Last updated: September 29, 2026

CommonScene is a small, independently operated social website. This page describes what information the site actually holds and what happens to it. It describes the site as it is built today, not as it might work later.

Information you give us

When you create an account and use CommonScene, the site stores what you enter, including:

• your username and display name;
• your email address (see below);
• your password, stored only as a hash produced by the site's password-hashing function — CommonScene does not store, log, or display your actual password, and nobody operating the site can read it back;
• profile information you fill in, such as your bio, location, interests, status and mood;
• your profile picture, uploaded photos, and any captions you give them;
• your profile customization, including theme choices and any custom CSS you write;
• posts, comments, and reactions;
• your music playlist, which is a list of YouTube links and titles you add;
• private messages you send to other members;
• your friendships, friend requests, and Top Friends arrangement;
• the Orbits you join and what you post in them;
• members you block;
• reports you file about content or members, including a copy of the reported content taken at the time you report it;
• your settings and privacy preferences.

Information the site records automatically

Some information is recorded simply to make the site work and keep it secure:

• Sessions. When you sign in, CommonScene stores a session record containing your account, a hashed form of your session token, when the session was created, when it expires, when it was last used, and the browser identification string (user agent) your browser sent.
• Timestamps. Most things you create carry a time, and your account records when you were last active.
• Profile views. The site counts views of your profile by other signed-in members. Signed-out visitors are not counted, and you can hide the count from others in Settings.
• Server logs. The server that runs CommonScene writes operational log messages. These can include IP addresses — for example when a sign-up or sign-in attempt is refused or rate-limited — along with what the site was doing and any errors.

About IP addresses. CommonScene uses your IP address while you are making a request, in memory, to apply rate limits that protect the site from abuse. Your IP address is not saved into your account record or into any table in the site's database. It can appear in the server's operational logs as described above.

Your email address

• New members are required to provide an email address when they register.
• Some older accounts were created before email addresses were collected and may not have one yet. Those members are reminded to add one, but are not forced to.
• Your email address is private account information. It is not shown on your profile, in search, in Orbits, in Constellation, or anywhere else on the site, and it is not included in the data the site sends to other members' browsers.
• Only you, through your own Settings page, and whoever operates CommonScene (who has direct access to the database) can see the address on your account.
• Email addresses are kept for account administration, future verification and recovery, security, and necessary messages about the service.

Content other people can see

CommonScene is a social website. Much of what you create is meant to be seen by other members, and you should assume anything you post publicly can be read, saved, or repeated by the people who can see it. That includes:

• your profile information and customization;
• your posts and comments;
• photos you upload and their captions;
• your friendships, where they are visible, including your Top Friends;
• your participation in Orbits;
• your reactions;
• your profile view count, unless you hide it.

Uploaded images are served from the site by a direct address. Someone who has that address, or who saves a copy of your image, can keep it. Blocking someone and deleting content limit what people find on the site; they cannot recall copies other people already have.

Where CommonScene offers privacy controls, they are described under Your choices below.

Private and restricted information

Private messages, your email address, and your settings are not meant for public display, and the site does not publish them.

We will not pretend they are beyond reach. CommonScene runs on a server and stores its information in a database, and whoever operates that server can read what is in it. There is no feature in the site that lets an administrator browse other people's private messages, but administrative and database access exists, and access may occur where reasonably necessary to:

• operate, maintain, back up or repair CommonScene;
• investigate abuse reports or enforce the Site Rules;
• investigate security incidents;
• protect members or the service;
• comply with applicable legal obligations.

One specific case is worth knowing about: when someone reports a message, post, comment or profile, the site saves a copy of that content with the report, so moderators can review what was reported even if it is later changed or deleted. Reporting a private message therefore shows that message to moderators.

Private messages are not read for advertising or marketing purposes.

Cookies and sessions

CommonScene sets one cookie. It holds your session token, and it exists so the site knows you are signed in. It is marked HttpOnly, so page scripts cannot read it, and SameSite=Lax, which helps prevent other websites from acting on your behalf. When the site is served over HTTPS, the cookie is marked Secure as well. Signing out deletes the session on the server, not just the cookie in your browser.

CommonScene does not set advertising cookies or tracking cookies, does not use an analytics service, and does not store anything in your browser's local storage.

Other services involved

CommonScene's playlist feature uses YouTube's embedded player. When a profile with music loads, your browser contacts YouTube directly to play it, and YouTube receives that request under its own privacy policy. Nothing else on the site loads code, fonts, or images from a third party.

Advertising

CommonScene currently does not display targeted advertising and does not sell members' personal information to advertisers.

CommonScene may introduce advertising or sponsorships in the future. If doing so materially changes how personal information is collected, used, or shared, this policy will be updated before those practices are introduced and any legally required choices or notices will be provided.

Sharing information

CommonScene does not sell member personal information.

Information may still be handled by the services used to run the website, such as hosting and infrastructure providers, domain and network providers, backup infrastructure, and, in the future, an email delivery provider. These services handle information because the site runs on them, not because CommonScene is trading it.

Information may also be disclosed:

• where required by valid legal process;
• to investigate abuse, fraud, or security issues;
• to protect CommonScene, its members, or others;
• as part of a future sale, merger, transfer, or reorganization of the service.

How long information is kept

CommonScene may keep information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate the service, maintain security, resolve disputes, enforce the rules, maintain backups, and satisfy legal obligations.

The site takes backups of its database and uploaded files, and keeps a limited number of recent backups. Content you delete on the site can therefore still exist in a backup, or in operational records, for some time after it disappears from the site.

Content that involves other people may need different handling. Deleting a post you wrote does not delete someone else's reply that quoted it, and deleting a message does not remove it from a report someone already filed.

Minimum age

You must be at least 13 years old to create a CommonScene account.

CommonScene does not ask for your date of birth. When you create an account you confirm that you meet the minimum age. If CommonScene learns that an account belongs to someone under 13, that account may be suspended or removed and the information associated with it handled appropriately.

Your choices

The controls CommonScene actually gives you today:

• edit your profile information, interests, status, mood and customization;
• change your email address and your password in Settings;
• hide your profile view count from other members in Settings;
• block another member, which cuts off messages, comments, friendship and visibility in both directions;
• delete your own posts, comments, photos, profile picture, playlist entries, reactions, notifications and Orbits you own;
• leave an Orbit;
• report content or a member to the moderators;
• sign out, which ends that session on the server. Changing your password signs out every other device.

Changes to this policy

CommonScene may update this policy as the site's features and practices change. Material changes may be announced through CommonScene News, a notice on the site, or the official CommonScene account. Once an email system exists, notice by email may be used as well — it cannot be used today.

Every legal page carries the date it was last updated.

Questions

Questions about this policy go through Help & Contact.