Who we are
The website address is: https://www.spences.uk. The site is owned and managed by me, Iain Spence, and most of the content is written or collated by me. The primary purpose of the site is as a repository for all of my genealogy research about my ancestors and their families.
Access to content
I will also make some of this research available to members of my family, distant cousins or others with a genuine connection with the family lines I’m researching. In order to access this content, it is necessary to sign up for a login, which requires a genuine email address and password, which can be changed by you, the user, as and when you wish.
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
Using logins ensures that the content is protected from the general public.
Comments
When logged in visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. Comments are not automatically blocked or moderated, though I reserve the right to change this if it becomes necessary, and to remove user access if that become necessary.
Comments you make are visible to all other visitors who have access to the content being commented on.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you may wish to avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and could extract any location data from images on the website. You should also ensure you do not upload files, images, videos or documents that are protected copyright, or if they are your own files, avoid uploading ones you do not want shared with other people.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
When you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Who we share your data with
If you make comments about content, such as your own stories or recollections, these may be used to update the content for other registered visitors to see.
Some of the content such as photos and documents may also be available on other genealogy sites like ancestry.com, findmypast.co.uk. Any content uploaded may be included in the future in such content distribution.
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service if this becomes necessary.
We do not sell or make available your data to any organisations, other than set out above for the purposes of you accessing and contributing content.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely, as an important part of our historical records.
For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.