Privacy

Last updated: September 2026

The Moment Before is an independent film-writing project. I try to collect as little personal information as possible and use it only for the reason it was provided.

This page explains what information may be collected when you use the site, where it is handled, and the choices you have.

Membership

You can create a free account with The Moment Before.

Ghost, the platform that runs this site, handles membership accounts. This may include your:

• name, if you provide one
• email address
• membership status
• newsletter preferences
• account and sign-in information

There is currently no paid membership tier.

You can manage your account and email preferences through Ghost’s member Portal.

Email and newsletters

If you subscribe to New Readings, your email address and subscription preferences are handled through Ghost.

Ghost may also provide information about newsletter delivery and engagement, such as whether an email was delivered, opened or a link was followed.

I use this information to operate and understand the newsletter, not to build advertising profiles.

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link included in an email or through your member account.

Comments

If you comment on an article, your chosen display name and comment are public.

Your comment is linked privately to your Ghost member account for moderation and account purposes. Your email address is not displayed publicly as part of your comment.

Comments may be moderated or removed where necessary.

The Guestbook

You can leave a note in the Bruidhean Guestbook without creating a Ghost account.

A Guestbook submission may include:

• the display name you choose, or Anonymous
• your note
• an optional reference to a reading
• an optional private email address

Every submission is moderated before it can appear publicly.

If approved, your display name, note, public date and reference may appear in the public Guestbook.

Your email address is never published. It is optional and is used only if I need to contact you about your note.

Guestbook submissions are processed through Vercel, checked by Cloudflare Turnstile for abuse, and stored in Baserow.

For moderation, an internal notification is sent through Resend. That notification may contain the name, note and reference you submitted, but Resend is not sent your Guestbook email address.

Approved Guestbook entries

Approved Guestbook entries normally remain public until:

• you ask for them to be corrected, anonymised or removed
• I remove them for moderation, privacy or safety reasons
• the Guestbook itself is retired

Your optional private email address is automatically removed from the private Guestbook record approximately 30 days after the moderation decision.

If you ask for a public Guestbook entry to be removed, the public entry is removed and the associated private record is reduced to the minimum information needed to record that it was removed and to help prevent accidental republication.

Declined Guestbook submissions

If a Guestbook submission is declined, it never becomes public.

Declined submissions are normally kept privately for approximately 30 days after the moderation decision and then deleted.

They may be kept longer only where this is genuinely necessary to deal with abuse, safety concerns, a dispute or a legal obligation. In those cases, only the information actually needed for that purpose should be retained.

Spam and obvious bot submissions are removed when identified and are not intended to become long-term records.

Correction, anonymisation and removal

You can ask for your Guestbook entry to be:

• corrected
• anonymised
• removed

at any time.

You do not need a Ghost account and you do not need to explain why.

Please use the Contact page or contact The Moment Before directly.

Where an entry was submitted anonymously, I may need enough information to identify the correct entry, such as the wording of the note, approximate date or reference.

Support and donations

You can optionally support The Moment Before with a one-off contribution through Ghost and Stripe.

Support is entirely optional and does not purchase membership, access to content or other benefits.

Stripe processes payment information. The Moment Before theme does not receive or store your card details.

Stripe may process information such as your:

• payment email
• amount and currency
• payment status
• payment-method information
• optional payment note
• fraud and security information

The Moment Before does not publish donation amounts or payment history.

Supporter Ledger

The Supporter Ledger is manually maintained.

Supporting the site does not automatically add your name to it.

A name, initials or pseudonym is only published when the supporter has explicitly chosen to be recognised that way.

If no naming preference has been given, no named entry is created.

The Ledger never publishes:

• donation amounts
• transaction dates
• email addresses
• payment identifiers
• payment history

You may ask for a Ledger name to be changed, anonymised or removed at any time.

The public Ledger is not automatically connected to Stripe or Ghost membership records.

Site analytics

Ghost provides built-in site analytics, including information such as:

• page views
• visitor numbers
• popular articles
• referring sources
• general audience location information
• membership and newsletter activity

I use this information to understand how the publication is being read and to maintain the site.

I do not run separate third-party advertising trackers or advertising pixels through the theme.

Services used by the site

The Moment Before currently relies on several specialist services:

Ghost — website hosting, publishing, membership, newsletters, comments and site analytics.

Stripe — optional one-off payment processing.

Baserow — Guestbook storage and moderation records.

Vercel — processes Guestbook submissions and related moderation functions.

Cloudflare Turnstile — helps protect the Guestbook from spam and automated abuse.

Resend — sends an internal notification when a Guestbook submission needs moderation.

These services may process information according to their own privacy practices when providing those functions.

How long information is kept

Different information has different purposes.

Member and newsletter information is retained while your Ghost account or subscription remains active, subject to Ghost’s account controls.

Approved Guestbook entries may remain public until you ask for correction, anonymisation or removal.

Optional Guestbook email addresses are automatically removed approximately 30 days after the moderation decision.

Declined Guestbook submissions are normally deleted approximately 30 days after the moderation decision.

When a public Guestbook entry is removed, the associated private record is reduced to the minimum information needed to record that removal and help prevent accidental republication.

Supporter Ledger consent information is kept only as needed to maintain the public recognition you requested. If recognition is removed, only a minimal record may be kept to prevent accidental republication.

Payment records are handled primarily by Stripe and may need to be retained by payment providers for their own financial, regulatory and security obligations.

Your choices

You can contact The Moment Before if you want to:

• ask what information I hold about you
• correct information
• change your membership or newsletter preferences
• correct or anonymise a Guestbook entry
• remove a Guestbook entry
• change or remove Supporter Ledger recognition
• raise a privacy concern

Where I can reasonably identify the relevant record, I will deal with the request without asking you to explain why you want the change.

Cookies and similar technologies

Some features of the site require functional cookies or similar browser technologies, particularly member sign-in, Ghost Portal, payment processing and anti-spam protection.

These are explained separately on the Cookies page.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests, please use the Contact page.

Changes to this page

I may update this Privacy page when the site, its services or the way information is handled changes.

The date at the top of the page will show when it was last updated.