Last updated 6 August 2026.
This site is written and run by Scott Ortkiese. It publishes articles. It sells
nothing, carries no advertising, runs no affiliate links, and has no paywall.
There is no mailing list operated from this site. If you want to reach me, write
to so@throughlinesynthesis.com.
This page tells you what information the site collects, why, and what you can
do about it. It describes the site as it exists today, not a generic template.
Comments
Comments are closed on every article and every page. The site collects no
comment data of any kind, and stores none from the past.
The contact form
The contact page carries a form. If you choose to use it, it asks for your name,
your email address, a company name, a phone number, and your message. Only the
name, the email address, and the message are needed. You can leave the company
and phone fields empty.
What you send is emailed to me and stored in the site database. I use it to
answer you. I do not add you to any list, share it with anyone, or use it for
anything else. If you would rather it were deleted, ask and I will delete it.
If you would prefer not to use the form at all, email me directly at the
address above.
Google Analytics
The site runs Google Analytics 4 under the measurement identifier
G-08VVRFREP1. It records which pages are visited, roughly where in the world
visitors are, what kind of device and browser they use, and how they arrived.
It sets cookies in your browser to recognise a returning visit. It does not tell
me who you are by name.
I use it to see which articles people actually read. I do not use it for
advertising, and no advertising or remarketing features are enabled.
You can prevent it entirely by installing the
Google Analytics opt-out
browser add-on, or by blocking analytics scripts in your browser or with an
extension. Nothing on this site is withheld from readers who do that.
Cloudflare
The site sits behind Cloudflare, which distributes it and screens out attacks
and automated abuse. To do that, Cloudflare sees your IP address, and sets a
cookie named __cf_bm that distinguishes people from bots. This is
the only cookie the site itself places on a visitor who does not use the contact
form. Cloudflare explains its handling in its
privacy policy.
Hosting and server logs
The site is hosted on GoDaddy managed WordPress. As with any web server, the
host keeps access logs recording IP addresses, requested pages, timestamps, and
browser identifiers. These exist for security and diagnostics. I do not mine
them, and I have no way to connect them to a named person.
Fonts
Typefaces on this site load from Google Fonts, which means your browser
contacts a Google server and Google sees your IP address when a page loads. No
account, name, or content is passed. If that matters to you, a content blocker
will stop it, and the site will fall back to fonts already on your device.
Embedded material
Articles may embed material hosted elsewhere, such as video. Embedded content
behaves as if you had visited the other site directly, and that site may collect
data about you under its own terms. Images on this site are served from this
domain, not from a third party.
Substack, LinkedIn, and other places I publish
Some of these articles also appear on Substack, and I post on LinkedIn. Those
are separate services running their own collection under their own policies.
Anything you do there is governed by them, not by this page. Subscribing to a
Substack newsletter creates a relationship with Substack, not with this
website.
What I do not do
I do not sell, rent, or trade personal information. I do not share it with
advertisers or data brokers. There is no advertising network on this site, no
tracking pixel from a social platform, and no cross-site advertising profile
built here.
How long things are kept
Contact form messages are kept for as long as the correspondence is useful,
and deleted on request. Analytics data is retained under Google’s own schedule.
Server and security logs roll over on the host’s schedule, typically within
weeks.
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask me what personal information about you this
site holds, ask for a copy, ask for it to be corrected, or ask for it to be
deleted. Readers in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom have these
rights under the General Data Protection Regulation. Readers in California have
comparable rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right
not to have personal information sold, which is straightforward here because
none of it is sold.
Write to so@throughlinesynthesis.com
and I will handle it myself. There is no department to go through.
Children
This site is written for adults and is not directed at children. I do not
knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.
Changes
If the site starts doing something different, this page will say so, and the
date at the top will change.