Privacy
Privacy policy
Reading CloseCall
You need no account to read the forecast, the polls or the guides. We set no cookie for readers and keep nothing about you. There is no advertising, no third-party tracker and no analytics service, and we do not sell or share personal information.
A few choices, such as views you save, are kept in your own browser and never reach us. Clearing your browser’s site data removes them.
Our host
Cloudflare hosts the site. Like any web host it processes the network information every visit carries, such as your IP address, to deliver pages and protect the site, under its own privacy policy. Its request logs are kept for up to 7 days to keep the site working; we do not use them to identify visitors.
Changes
If this changes, for example when accounts open, this page will say so before it takes effect.
If you sign in to Brackets
Draft, awaiting the site owner’s approval. It describes what the site does today.
Building a bracket without signing in
A bracket you build without signing in lives in the page address and in your own browser; it never reaches our servers.
If you sign in
You sign in with a code sent to your email address, or with Google. With an emailed code we receive the address; from Google we receive your account identifier, your email address and your first name. We keep the identifier (to recognize you), the email (to contact you about your account if we must; it is never shown to other players) and a display name, which you choose and can change at any time.
We also keep what you make: your brackets and each pick in them (including a history of changes, used to settle disputes and to understand how people play), the groups you create or join, and when you signed in.
Signing in sets one cookie, which keeps you signed in for 45 days after your last visit. If you choose the light theme on your account page, we keep that choice with your account and a second cookie carries it, for the same time, so pages open in it. Neither cookie is used for anything else.
Who sees what
Members of a group see the display names of its members, the brackets entered in it and the leaderboard. A bracket is otherwise private unless you choose to share its link. Your email address is never shown to anyone.
The site-wide leaderboard, Everyone vs. the Forecast, is public. Before picks lock it shows only totals: how many play, and what share pick each side, a race only once at least 10 players have picked it; never a name. From the lock it shows, for each bracket that counts, your display name, a short tag that tells two players of the same name apart, the bracket’s name when more than one of yours counts, and its score. Up to 5 of your brackets count: the one you edited last, unless you choose others on your account page before the lock. Every account is on it unless it leaves, from the account page, at any time; the site owner can also hide a name.
Counting how the site is used
We count a few actions, such as a bracket saved, a group created or an invite link opened, in our own database, to learn whether the brackets are worth building further. There is no advertising, no third-party tracker and no analytics service, and we do not sell or share personal information.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account at any time from your account page. That removes your brackets, your group memberships and your sessions immediately, and replaces your name and email with nothing; in groups you were part of, you appear as “Former player”.
Age
You must be at least 13 to sign in.
Where it is kept
Accounts, brackets and groups are stored in a Cloudflare D1 database operated for this site. Cloudflare acts as our service provider.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will say so on the site before it takes effect.