Privacy policy

Cool Big Things (“we”, “us”) is run by 1026 Ventures, LLC. This page explains what we collect when you use the site, why, and what you can do about it. Questions or requests go to hello@coolbigthings.com.

What we collect

• Your email address, when you sign in. We use it to send your sign-in code and, rarely, to tell you about your account. It is never shown on the site.
• Your display name and profile: the name you choose, your short bio and your public profile link.
• What you post: guest book entries (the giant, the date you visited and your tip), photos, comments and suggestions for new giants. These are public, except suggestions, which only we see.
• An optional email on suggestions, if you give one so we can follow up.
• Email update choices: if you sign up for emails, your address, when you signed up, where (at sign-up, in the box at the bottom of a page, or in your passport), which page you were on, and the country your connection came from. We keep this as a record that you agreed.
• Page claims, if you claim a giant’s page for a town, tourism board or business: your name, your organization, your role, its website, the email you signed in with and any note you add. We use these only to check that you represent the attraction and to contact you about the page. The public page shows your organization’s name, not your own name or email.
• Page updates you send as a page manager: the photo, hours, events, links and corrections. Once we approve them they are public on that page.
• Usage data: pages viewed, the site you came from, rough location from your IP address, device and browser type, and actions such as signing up, signing a guest book or earning a badge. We use this to see what people like and to fix problems.
• Basic logs kept by our hosting provider for security and troubleshooting.

Email updates

We send new giants and road trip ideas only to people who tick the box that says so, at sign-up, in your passport, or in the sign-up box at the bottom of our pages. You don’t need an account. Visitors in the US see the box ticked to start with and can untick it; everywhere else it starts unticked. Signing in doesn’t add you to the list.

• Every email will have an unsubscribe link. One click takes you off the list.
• Members can also turn emails on or off any time in their passport.
• Unsubscribing doesn’t stop the sign-in codes you ask for.
• We keep your address and a note that you unsubscribed, so we don’t email you again by mistake. Email hello@coolbigthings.com to have it removed completely.

Addresses are kept in the site’s private storage with Vercel. Our newsletter service, Beehiiv, also gets your address, when and where you signed up and your country, so it can send the emails and handle unsubscribes. We don’t sell the list.

Photos and location

When you upload a photo, the site tries to shrink it and remove hidden details such as the GPS location your camera may have added. The giant’s location is already public, but please don’t post photos that show where you live.

Cookies

We use a small number of cookies: one keeps you signed in for 30 days, one remembers your profile link, and our analytics tool sets cookies to count visits. We don’t run ads or sell your data, and we don’t use advertising cookies.

Who we share it with

We don’t sell or rent your personal information. We share it only with services that help us run the site, under their own privacy terms:

• Vercel, which hosts the site and stores accounts and photos.
• An email service, which sends sign-in codes.
• Beehiiv, which sends our email updates if you signed up for them.
• PostHog, which provides our visitor analytics.
• OpenStreetMap and Wikimedia Commons, whose maps and photos load in your browser.

We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect people from harm, or as part of selling or reorganizing the business. If that happens we will make sure this policy keeps applying.

Affiliate and sponsor links

Some links, such as hotels or RV parks, may be affiliate links, so we may earn a commission if you book. Featured spots may be paid for by tourism boards or businesses and are labeled as such.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and posts until you delete them or ask us to. Sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes. Analytics data is kept for up to a year.

Your choices and rights

• You can delete any guest book entry or comment you posted from its page.
• To withdraw a page claim, or remove what your organization added to a page, email hello@coolbigthings.com.
• Email hello@coolbigthings.com to get a copy of your data, correct it, or delete your account and everything you posted.
• Depending on where you live, including California and the EU or UK, you may have more rights, such as objecting to how we use your data or complaining to a regulator. We will answer requests within 30 days.

Children

The site is not meant for children under 13, and they may not create an account. If you think a child has signed up, email us and we will delete the account.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update the date above and, for big changes, tell signed-in members.

See also: Privacy policy · Terms of use · Photo and comment rules