Privacy Policy

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Introduction
This privacy policy sets out how RailUK Forums uses and protects any information that you give RailUK Forums when you use this website.

RailUK Forums is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

Lawful basis of processing
The lawful bases of our processing under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are as follows:

• Your consent, which you provide when registering an account;
• Our legitimate interests in ensuring the orderly running of the forum, including:
  • Enforcing forum rules, in particular preventing ban circumvention, and upholding our 'one account per person' policy;
  • Maintaining posts indefinitely so that threads do not lose context (note the non-revocable licence you grant us to publish your posts, as below)

Furthermore, in maintaining posts indefinitely we also rely on the 'archiving purposes in the public interest' exemption under Article 17(3)(d) of the GDPR. This means you do not have the right to require us to delete or hide your posts. Our default position is that such requests will be refused unless there are exceptional circumstances warranting removal.

Publishing licence
By submitting or posting content (including posts, videos or images) on RailUK Forums, you grant us a non-exclusive, non-revocable, worldwide licence to process and publish your content in perpetuity, so it is visible to others. Whilst you hold the copyright for any of your creations, by submitting it here, you grant us publishing rights for its continuing use.

RailUK Forums may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. This policy was last updated on 13th July 2023.

What we collect
We may collect the following:

• name, occupation and date of birth
• contact information including email address and instant messaging handles
• IP addresses used to register, log in, and post messages
• brand and version of your web browser, operating system and device used during a browsing session
• demographic information such as your gender, location and interests
• forum preferences
• other information you may wish to provide

What we do with the information we gather
We require this information, which is provided by your consent, to prevent misuse of the services we provide and to identify content posted by individuals.

Furthermore:

• We will send you welcome messages to verify your email address and to inform you of the services we provide and confirm when your account has been activated
• Should you consent, we may periodically send you messages and may contact you for market research purposes relating to the forum
• We may use the information to improve our service
• We will use the information to customise the forum according to your preferences and to protect your information

Security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

How we use cookies
We use cookies to enable functions such as showing whether a thread or forum you are viewing has new posts since your last visit, or to automatically log you back in when you return to the site after being away for a while, storing your username and password. Cookies are also used to track your current session, ensuring that you remain logged-on while browsing the site, to prevent misuse of the services we provide, and to ensure compliance with our forum rules.

We also use third party advertisements on RailUK Forums to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use cookies when they advertise on our site, which will also send advertisers information, including your IP address. RailUK Forums have no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third party advertisers, although we believe that these organisations ensure that your privacy is protected and are compliant with current UK regulations concerning the processing of data.

You can choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Links to other websites
Our website contains links to other websites, of which we do not have any control. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites, and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal data
You are able to set privacy settings which can limit who can see some information you have provided and who can contact you. You are also able to set preferences in order to receive or stop receiving email notifications regarding new or updated content. Details on how to do this are in the post below.

You are able to erase the majority of your personal data yourself on the Account details page. Should you not be able to amend an item or otherwise require assistance, please use the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of every page. For the avoidance of doubt, please note that posts do not constitute personal data under the GDPR, and as above, requests to remove posts will be refused unless there are exceptional circumstances.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal data to third parties unless we have your permission, are required by law to do so, or if we need to submit a report regarding misuse of the services we provide.

You may request details of personal data and supplementary information which we hold about you. If you would like a copy of the information held on you, please use the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of every page. A fee may be payable in exceptional circumstances.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, in the majority of cases, you may correct this yourself on the Account details page. Should you not be able to amend this or otherwise require assistance, please use the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of every page. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

 

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How do I unsubscribe from email notifications?
Depending on your preferences, you may be set up to receive email notifications when a reply is made to a thread that you are watching. Go to your Preferences and uncheck the options "and receive email notifications of replies." There are four similar options as for users of the Media album you can also set to receive a notification when items are uploaded or comments made.

Note that changing these options will not stop you from receiving an email to threads that you are already watching. The easiest way to do this is to use the one-click unsubscribe option at the bottom of any emails you receive from us. You can also go to the Watched Threads page and use one of the options under 'Manage Watched Threads' on the top of the page.

Within your settings, you can also go to your Preferences and deselect "Receive email when a new conversation message is received" to stop being sent an email whenever you receive a conversation message (also known as a Private Message/PM).

How do I change my Username?
Your Username is the unique name with which you log in to the forum. It also appears alongside any post you make and on your User Profile page. You select your Username when you first join the forum and it cannot be changed. We recommend that your Username does not contain any personal data or any information which can be used to identify you.

In exceptional circumstances, we may allow members to change their Username on one occasion only, at the discretion of the staff team where good reason exists, such as privacy concerns. To request a Username change in these circumstances, please click the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of every forum page and send us your current Username, your proposed new Username, and the reason for the Username change request.

 

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Please be advised that we have made some minor modifications to our membership Privacy Policy. These have temporarily been underlined in the opening post, but a summary of these can be found below, in the order in which they appear.

1. Clarification of licensing arrangements for any content uploaded to this website
2. Date policy effective from, now mentions the date that the policy was last updated
3. We have clarified our use of cookies to show that compliance with our forum rules is included. In practice there is no change to how we use cookies, but we wish to clarify what misuse of services includes