Chocoholic Anonymous Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 6/8/2026

Who We Are

Chocoholic Anonymous (“we,” “our,” or “us”) is a baking website based in the United States and dedicated to sharing recipes, tips, and recommendations. We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how we collect, use, and safeguard your information. Our website address is: https://chocoholicanonymous.com.

Data Collection and Management

This section outlines the types of information we collect, how we use it to support your experience on the site, and the steps we take to store and protect it responsibly.

Member Accounts

When you create an account, we store the personal information you provide in your profile. This includes data needed to support features such as Personal Recipe Collections and Private Notes. Your information is stored on secure servers and is accessible only to you and authorized site administrators for technical support.

We do not use your personal information for targeted advertising, profiling, or automated decision‑making. While we use industry‑standard security measures, no method of online transmission is completely secure.

To create and maintain your account, we collect:

Email address
First name
Password (securely hashed)
Profile privacy preferences
Newsletter opt‑in status

Optional information you may provide:

Last name
Website
Profile description
Avatar image
Personal recipe collections
Private recipe notes

Comments

When you leave a comment, we collect the information shown in the comment form, along with your IP address and browser user agent to help detect spam.

If you use Gravatar, an anonymized hash of your email address may be sent to the Gravatar service. After your comment is approved, your profile image (if applicable) becomes visible alongside your comment.

Membership & Commenting

Registered members can post comments without moderation. These comments appear instantly, but we still collect the same anti‑spam data described above. We may remove any comment that is inappropriate, harmful, or violates community guidelines.

Media

If you upload images (including profile avatars), please avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors may be able to extract this information from images on the site.

Cookies

We use cookies to support essential site functions and improve your experience.

If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies for approximately one year.
A temporary cookie is set on the login page to check whether your browser accepts cookies. This is a session cookie and is removed when you close your browser.
Login cookies last for two days; display preference cookies last for one year.
- “Remember Me” extends login cookies to two weeks.
- Logging out will remove login cookies.
Our cookie consent banner allows you to accept, decline, or customize non‑essential cookies.

We may share limited user information in the following specific use cases:

Password reset requests (your IP address may be included).
Email newsletter delivery (email addresses and first names shared only with our email provider).
Spam detection services (comment form data, IP address, and browser user agent).
External links or social sharing buttons (you become subject to the external site’s policies).

Outside these specific use cases, we do not send or share any user or member information. We never sell any user or member information.

Plugins and Services We Use

These services receive only the minimum data required to address the use cases listed above:

InMotion Hosting
Google Search Console
Antispam Bee
Easy Affiliate Links
GoSMTP
Brevo
Superb Social Share Buttons
WP Consent

Data Retention

Comments and their metadata are stored indefinitely.
Member profile data (including private notes and recipe collections) is stored while your account is active.
You may view, edit, or delete your information at any time.
If you delete your account, your profile data is removed from the active database. Public comments remain but are no longer linked to an active profile.
We can anonymize or remove personal information from past comments upon request unless retention is required for legal or security reasons.
Encrypted backups may retain deleted data for up to 21 days.

Your Data Rights

You may request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you. We will respond to all data requests within a reasonable timeframe. You may modify or delete data you have shared from your profile at any time. If you’d like to completely remove your data from the site, you may use the Delete Account option.

Embedded Content

Articles may include embedded content (videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content behaves as if you visited the originating website, which may collect data, use cookies, or track your interaction.

Children’s Privacy

Our site and membership features are not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe such information has been collected, please contact us.

Site Statistics & Search Performance

We use statistics tools to understand site performance:

Koko Analytics: Anonymized, locally stored traffic data.
WP Popular Posts: Tracks post popularity using locally stored data.
Google Search Console: Provides aggregated search performance data. Note: This tool does not place Google Analytics tracking code on our site.

State & International Privacy Rights

Depending on your location, you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict the use of your personal information. We will respond to requests as required by applicable law.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. The “Last Updated” date reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the site after changes are posted indicates acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact Us

For questions about your data or to request an export, contact us at: support@chocoholicanonymous.com