Privacy policy

Last updated October 17, 2026

Who we are

The Backfire Awards is a free website at backfireawards.com. It is run by [Goat Farm legal entity name], a [state of formation] [entity type] (Goat Farm, we or us). Our mailing address is [Goat Farm mailing address]. You can reach us at [contact email].

This policy explains what the site collects, why, who receives it, and how long it is kept. It covers the website, the newsletter and the forms linked from the site. The rules for using the site are in our terms of service.

The site has no user accounts or passwords. Anything you post is public. We do not sell your personal information.

What we collect and why

Nominations. When you nominate something, we collect what you type: the nominee's name, the relevant years, the achievement, the text fields, the category and labels, any links, and your name if you choose to give one. Moderators review it, and if it is approved, it is published.

Comments. When you comment, we collect the text and the name you choose to give, if any. Comments are published right away, so do not include anything you want to keep private.

Votes and reports. When you vote ("Midgley-worthy?" yes or no, or an upvote) or report something, we record the vote or report along with a random ID. Your browser creates that ID and keeps it in its local storage. Local storage is a small storage area in your browser that a website can use. It is not a cookie. The ID limits voting to one vote per browser per nominee and is not linked to your identity. Local storage also keeps the name you last typed and the items you reported. You can clear it in your browser settings at any time.

Spam and abuse controls. To stop flooding and spam, the site takes your IP address (the number that identifies your internet connection) and turns it into a scrambled code called a hash. We use the hash to limit how often posts can come from one connection. The site does not store your original IP address, and the hash is discarded after about an hour. Some forms may show a human check called Cloudflare Turnstile. Cloudflare processes information about your browser and device to run that check.

Site analytics. Cloudflare Web Analytics counts page views without cookies or a profile of you.

Newsletter. If you sign up for The Weekly Oops, you give your email address to Beehiiv, the service that runs our newsletter. The sign-up forms on the site are Beehiiv forms. Beehiiv may also record the page you signed up from and tracking tags in the link you followed (called utm tags, which tell us things like "came from Instagram").

Murphy stories and the shop waitlist. These forms are run by Tally (tally.so). They may collect your first name, email address, your story, a T-shirt size, and a tag showing where you came from. We use this to read your story or to tell you when the shop opens.

Featuring your posts. We may feature nominations, comments and Murphy stories in the newsletter and on our social media accounts. If we credit you, we use only the first name or display name you gave.

Who else receives information

• Cloudflare hosts the site and its database, protects it from attacks, runs the Turnstile check, and provides page view counts. Cloudflare processes technical data such as IP addresses.
• Google Fonts supplies the site's fonts. Your browser requests the fonts from Google when a page loads, so Google receives your IP address and basic browser information.
• Beehiiv runs the newsletter and stores subscriber emails.
• Tally runs the Murphy and shop waitlist forms and stores what you submit.
• Social media platforms (such as Instagram) receive any content we post there. Their own privacy policies apply on their platforms.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect people, or to defend our rights. If the site changes owners, this policy continues to apply to the information.

How long we keep it

• Nominations and comments: until they are removed by a moderator or at a valid request.
• Votes and reports: as long as the nominee or comment they relate to stays on the site.
• Rate-limit hashes: about one hour.
• Newsletter email: until you unsubscribe. Every email has an unsubscribe link.
• Tally form submissions: until we delete them. We delete them when they are no longer needed, or when you ask.
• Server and security logs: kept by Cloudflare for the periods set in its policies.
• Your browser's local storage: until you clear it.

Your choices

• You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.
• You can clear your browser's local storage at any time.
• You can ask us to remove a post you made, or ask about the information we hold, at [contact email]. Since there are no accounts, we may ask for details that help us find the post.

Children

The site is for a general audience and is not directed to children. You must be at least 13 to post, vote, comment, sign up for the newsletter or use our forms. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it. If you are 13 to 17, please get a parent or guardian's permission before you sign up for the newsletter or send us your email address.

California residents

If you live in California, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act) gives you rights over your personal information. You have the right to:

• Know what personal information we collect, use and disclose.
• Ask us to delete personal information we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Equal treatment when you use these rights.

We do not sell personal information. We do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising (ads targeted to you based on your activity across other sites). We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information to infer things about you. To make a request, email [contact email]. We may need to confirm your request is genuine. You may use an authorized agent to make a request for you.

People in the EU and UK

If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, data protection law (the GDPR and the UK GDPR) applies to how we handle your personal information. Goat Farm is the controller, meaning we decide how and why it is used.

We rely on these legal bases:

• Consent for the newsletter and the Tally forms. You can withdraw consent at any time by unsubscribing or contacting us.
• Legitimate interests for running, securing and moderating the site, preventing spam, counting page views, and publishing and featuring the posts you choose to make public.
• Legal obligation where the law requires it.

You have the right to access, correct or delete your personal information, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to receive a copy in a portable format. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

We and our providers process information in the United States and other countries. For transfers out of the EU or UK, we rely on approved safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

Security

We use reasonable measures to protect what we hold, and we keep as little as we can. No website is perfectly secure.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. When we do, we will change the date at the top. If we make a significant change, we will also post a notice on the site. The site does not have sign-in today. If we add sign-in or accounts, we will update this policy before that feature goes live.

Contact

[Goat Farm legal entity name]
[Goat Farm mailing address]
[contact email]