Brian Thackston You can just do things.

Last updated · 2026-08-12

Privacy

The short version: this site uses analytics and advertising to see what writing reaches people. You can opt out. I don't sell your personal information.

What this site collects

Analytics. Page views, referrer, anonymized IP, inferred country, browser, and screen size. Data is collected through Google Tag Manager and forwarded to Google Analytics 4. It is aggregate, not used to build profiles across the web.

Form submissions. When you subscribe to the newsletter, request downloadable materials, or send a message, I store:

  • Name and email address
  • Message content or resource requested
  • Timestamp and, where applicable, your marketing opt-in
  • Basic attribution data (campaign source, landing page, referral path)

Submissions are stored in Cloudflare D1 and delivered via Resend (email provider). Resend also retains your contact record with associated metadata until you unsubscribe or request deletion.

Email engagement tracking. Emails include open and click tracking via Resend. This measures which writing lands — tied to your subscription, never sold or shared. To avoid tracking: disable images in your email client or unsubscribe. Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe link.

Advertising. This site may use advertising pixels from Meta, TikTok, and LinkedIn to measure ad performance and show relevant follow-ups. These load only after you grant consent through the banner.

Services that process data

  • Cloudflare (CDN, Workers, D1, R2) — hosting and form storage, on every request. Necessary.
  • Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 — analytics, at page load. Consent required.
  • Cloudflare Turnstile — anti-fraud on forms, at page load on every page that has one (in practice all of them, since the newsletter sign-up is in the footer site-wide). Necessary.
  • YouTube — embedded video playback, only on pages that contain a video. Third-party embed.
  • Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn — advertising pixels, when ads run, after consent. Consent required.
  • Resend — email delivery and contact storage, on subscription or submission. Server-side.

Note on JavaScript-disabled visitors: with JavaScript disabled, Google Tag Manager's noscript fallback loads as static markup. Consent Mode is JavaScript-based and cannot gate that request. This affects a small number of visitors.

Country detection

Your country is inferred from your IP address to determine consent posture — for example, whether the consent banner requires a click before anything loads. It is not stored as a persistent identifier; it is processed transiently for this purpose.

Retention

Form submissions in Cloudflare D1 have a target retention period of 365 days. Automated deletion is not yet active; until it is, I delete on request. Resend retains contact data until you unsubscribe or request removal.

Cookies and local storage

This site stores the following on your device. Local and session storage are included because they do the same job as cookies:

  • cookie_consent — cookie, one year. Remembers your choice.
  • bt_attrib — cookie, 90 days. Records which campaign brought you here. In the EEA and UK, and for anyone sending Global Privacy Control, this stays session-only and is discarded when you close the tab, unless you consent.
  • nudge_dismissed — cookie, 30 days. Remembers that you dismissed the subscribe prompt.
  • theme — local storage. Your light or dark reading preference.
  • subscribed — local storage. Stops the subscribe prompt reappearing.
  • last_visit — local storage. Helps decide when to show the subscribe prompt.
  • pages_viewed — session storage. Helps decide when to show the subscribe prompt.

Google Analytics sets its own cookies when consent is granted; those are documented at policies.google.com/technologies/cookies. Cloudflare and Turnstile may set necessary cookies for security and fraud prevention.

How to opt out

Click Opt out on the banner shown on your first visit. Your choice is remembered for one year. To reset it, clear the cookie_consent cookie for this domain — the banner returns and you can choose again.

For email tracking, use the unsubscribe link in any email or write to me directly.

Your rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete the personal data I hold. Write to me and I'll respond, typically within 30 days.

Contact

Brian Thackston · privacy@brianthackston.com

I am the data controller and the entire customer service department.

¶ Technology can be used for both good and bad. And I believe I'm building great things for the good.