What the portal handles and why

Information you choose to provide

• Account details when you register or sign in.
• Posts, comments, chat messages, listings, reactions, and submissions.
• Optional contact details included with a tip, submission, listing, or newsletter signup.

Technical and usage information

The site uses security controls such as request rate limits and may process network information to prevent abuse. It uses self-hosted, cookieless Matomo analytics to measure visits and navigation on ordinary public pages. Successful public page requests are measured on the server; browser navigation updates supplement those counts without downloading an external tracker. The portal also records clicks on its new weekend, calendar, and related article actions so the newsroom can understand which public tools are useful. These anonymous action records contain a fixed action and placement label, not form text or contact details. No analytics cookies are set. Analytics excludes tip, submission, account, listing-intake, or staff pages, and browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals are honored. Authentication uses secure session cookies. When you open County Live, a random presence identifier is stored for the browser session and start/stop events are recorded to measure actual chat use. The floating chat does not connect while it is closed.

About the tipline

The tipline does not require an account or a name. “No account required” is not the same as guaranteed technical anonymity: ordinary web requests still pass through hosting and network systems. Avoid including identifying details unless you want the newsroom to use them for follow-up. Optional contact details are encrypted before database storage; authorized newsroom staff can decrypt them for follow-up. The tip form is not monitored as an emergency service.

Retention and control

The portal does not yet apply one automatic deletion period to every record. Submissions, moderation records, and account security logs may be kept while they are needed for editorial, safety, legal, or service-operating reasons. Browser-only saved stories can be removed from the saved stories page or by clearing this site’s browser storage.

Public information

Material posted to public news, community, comment, chat, or listings areas can be read and copied by others. Do not publish private addresses, sensitive records, or contact details you do not have permission to share.

Questions or requests

Use the community contribution form to ask a privacy question or request review of information you submitted. Some records may need to be retained for security, legal, moderation, or editorial reasons.