Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 13, 2026
This policy explains what Peachtree City Guide (“we”, “us”) collects when you use peachtreecityguide.com, why, and the choices you have. We don’t sell your personal information.
What we collect
Your account
When you sign up: your email address, a display name (shown publicly) and a password (stored only in hashed form). If you sign in with Google, we receive your Google account ID, name and email. If we ever use a text-message check to prevent fraud, we collect your phone number for that purpose only.
Your reviews
Review text, star ratings, the date of your experience, photos you upload (we remove location and camera data from photos), and your answers about incentives and conflicts of interest. If you send proof of experience, such as a receipt, we use it only to verify the review.
Technical information
When you post, we record your IP address, browser type and timestamps to fight spam and fake reviews. Our host and security services also keep standard server logs.
Cookies, analytics and ads
We use cookies to keep you signed in and to run the site. We plan to use Google Analytics and Google Search Console (through Google Site Kit) to understand how people use the site, and display ads from Google or other ad networks. These services may set cookies and collect information such as pages viewed, device type, approximate location and ad interactions. If we add affiliate links or lead tracking, those partners may record that you clicked through or requested a quote.
Listing click statistics and referral tags. We keep our own anonymous counts of clicks on business listings’ website links, phone numbers and “Get Directions” links. For each click we record only the listing, the type of click and the date. To avoid double-counting, we store a one-way scrambled code created from your IP address and browser that changes every day; it cannot be used to identify you and is erased after 30 days. We do not set cookies for this purpose. We share only total, aggregated click counts with the listed businesses, and we delete count records after 25 months. Links to business websites also carry referral tags (for example utm_source=peachtreecityguide) so those businesses can see in their own analytics that a visit came from Peachtree City Guide; the tags contain no information about you.
How we use it
- To run your account and send account and review notices.
- To publish and moderate reviews.
- To prevent fraud, spam and fake reviews, and keep the site secure.
- To measure and improve the site.
- To show ads and measure them.
- To follow the law and respond to valid legal requests.
What’s public
Your display name, reviews, ratings, photos, review dates and badges are public. Your email address, IP address and any proof you send are never public and never shared with the businesses you review.
Who we share it with
We share information only with service providers that help us run the site, for those purposes. These may include our web host, Cloudflare (security and spam checks), Google (sign-in, Analytics, Search Console and ads), a spam-filtering service, an email delivery provider and, if used, a text-message provider. These providers handle data under their own privacy policies. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect people’s safety or our rights, or as part of a sale or transfer of the site.
Google’s use of data is explained at How Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Your choices about cookies and ads
- Use our cookie banner or settings to manage non-essential cookies, where offered.
- Turn off personalized Google ads at Google Ad Settings, or visit aboutads.info.
- Opt out of Google Analytics with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
- Your browser can block or delete cookies, though signing in may stop working.
How long we keep data
- Account information: until you delete your account.
- Reviews: until you delete them or your account. If you chose to keep your reviews when deleting your account, they stay up under “Former member” until you ask us to remove them.
- IP address and browser data from submissions: 12 months, then anonymized.
- Proof of experience: deleted within 30 days of our decision; we keep only “verified: yes or no” and the date.
- Phone numbers used for fraud checks: deleted after verification, or kept in hashed form for up to 12 months.
- Moderation records: 3 years, without IP addresses.
- Analytics and ad data: as set by those services and our settings.
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct, download or delete your personal information. You can edit or delete your reviews and delete your account from your account settings, or by emailing [email protected] (members and visitors) or [email protected] (businesses). When you delete your account, we delete your account information and, by default, your reviews. You can instead choose to keep your reviews, shown under “Former member” without your display name. We keep nothing else, except for limited records we must keep for legal, security or fraud-prevention reasons. Copies may remain in backups for a short time before they are overwritten. We’ll respond to requests within a reasonable time and may need to confirm your identity.
Children
The site is not directed to children, and you must be 18 or older to create an account or post a review. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, including children under 13 as covered by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If we learn that someone under 18 has created an account or given us personal information, we will delete the account and that information. Parents can contact us at [email protected] (members and visitors) or [email protected] (businesses).
Security
We use reasonable safeguards, such as hashed passwords and encrypted connections. No system is perfectly secure, so we can’t guarantee security.
Where this applies
Peachtree City Guide is run from Georgia, USA, and is meant for people in the United States. Your information is stored and processed in the United States. This policy is governed by the laws of Georgia and applicable US federal law. If you live in a state with its own privacy rights, contact us and we’ll honor the rights that apply to you.
Changes
We may update this policy. We’ll change the effective date above and, for significant changes, give notice on the site or by email.
Contact
Privacy questions or requests: [email protected] (members and visitors) or [email protected] (businesses), or use our contact page.