Effective date: September 14, 2026 Last updated: September 14, 2026
This policy explains what information Nichestead (https://nichestead.com) collects, why, who else handles it, and what you can do about it. It describes how the site works today. Nichestead doesn’t run ads, analytics tools, or affiliate links right now. If that changes, this policy will be updated before those features go live.
The short version
- You can read Nichestead without an account, and the site uses no advertising or analytics cookies.
- If you leave a comment, WordPress stores your name, email address, IP address, and browser user agent. Every comment waits for manual approval.
- Comment avatars come from Gravatar, which receives a hashed version of a commenter’s email address.
- There’s no contact form. Emails you send to 0108juyung@gmail.com go straight to the site owner’s Gmail inbox, aren’t saved on the website, and are deleted 12 months after the reply.
- If an AI tool helps draft a reply, your name and email address are removed first. Only the text of your question goes to the AI tool.
- Nichestead’s host, Hostinger, processes standard request data, such as IP addresses, to deliver pages.
- Nichestead doesn’t sell your personal information.
Who runs Nichestead
Nichestead is a blog about blogging and WordPress tools, published under the Nichestead brand. The site is operated by CHOI JUYUNG, based in the Republic of Korea, who is responsible for the personal information described in this policy.
For privacy questions, use the Contact page or email 0108juyung@gmail.com.
Information Nichestead collects
Nichestead collects information in a few specific situations, described below.
When you comment
Comments are open on Nichestead posts, and every comment is held for manual approval before it appears. When you submit a comment, WordPress stores:
- the name and email address you enter,
- the comment itself,
- your IP address,
- your browser’s user agent (a short text string that identifies your browser and device type).
Your name and comment appear publicly once the comment is approved. Your email address, IP address, and user agent aren’t shown on the site.
Antispam Bee, a WordPress plugin, checks submitted comments for spam. Its checks run on this server, and its options that would contact an outside service are turned off. Comments it flags as spam are kept in WordPress’s spam folder instead of being deleted automatically.
Comment avatars (Gravatar)
Nichestead shows a small profile picture next to each comment, using Gravatar, a service run by Automattic. To find the picture, a hashed version of the commenter’s email address is sent to Gravatar as part of the image address. A hash is a scrambled string made from the email address, but it can be matched back to that address, so Nichestead treats it as personal information.
When a page shows avatars, your browser loads those images from Gravatar’s servers, the same way it loads any image hosted on another site. Commenters without a Gravatar profile get a default image. Gravatar handles this information under Automattic’s privacy policy.
Cookies
Nichestead doesn’t use advertising, analytics, or tracking cookies. These are the cookies the site can set:
| Cookie | Set by | What it does | When it’s set | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
comment_author_{hash}, comment_author_email_{hash}, comment_author_url_{hash} | WordPress | Remembers the name, email address, and website you entered, so you don’t retype them next time | Only if you tick the box on the comment form | 1 year |
_lscache_vary | LiteSpeed Cache | Makes sure the right cached version of a page is shown | When someone signs in, or when you have a comment waiting for approval | About 2 days |
wordpress_test_cookie | WordPress | Checks that the browser accepts cookies | Only on the login page, which readers don’t normally visit | Until the browser is closed |
wordpress_[hash], wordpress_logged_in_[hash], wp-settings-{time}-[UID] | WordPress | Sign-in and admin screen settings | Only for signed-in users. Readers can’t create accounts on Nichestead | Not set for readers |
Nichestead doesn’t have a contact form, so there’s no form to set cookies. Emailing 0108juyung@gmail.com doesn’t set any cookies on this site. A check of the site on September 13, 2026, found no cookies set by Hostinger’s content delivery network.
You can delete or block cookies in your browser settings at any time.
When you email Nichestead
Nichestead doesn’t have a contact form. If you want to reach the site owner, email 0108juyung@gmail.com directly from your own email program. That message goes straight to the owner’s Gmail inbox, isn’t saved in the WordPress database, and isn’t processed by the Nichestead website at all.
Nichestead uses what you send only to read and reply to your message. Contact emails are kept for 12 months after the reply, then deleted.
If you ask a WordPress question, the reply may be drafted with help from an AI tool, ChatGPT or Claude. Before any question is pasted into the AI tool, your name and email address are removed. Only the text of your question goes to the AI tool, and the site owner reviews every reply before it’s sent. Because the question text itself is shared, leave out personal details your question doesn’t need. The AI tool handles that text under its own privacy policy: OpenAI’s or Anthropic’s.
Separately, Nichestead’s WordPress installation sends its own automatic emails, such as new-comment notifications to the site owner, through Gmail SMTP, using the WP Mail SMTP plugin. Google’s privacy policy covers how Google handles that mail traffic.
Server logs and the content delivery network
When you visit a page, your browser sends standard technical information to the servers that deliver it. For Nichestead, those are Hostinger’s servers in a US data center in Massachusetts, plus the Hostinger CDN (content delivery network), which serves copies of pages to speed up loading. Hostinger’s access logs for the site can show:
- the date and time of the request,
- your IP address, and the country it points to,
- the page or file requested,
- your browser and device type, read from the user agent,
- the size of the response and how long it took.
This information is used to deliver pages, keep the site secure, and diagnose errors. How long it’s kept is listed in “How long information is kept” below.
Broken-link log
Rank Math SEO’s 404 monitor records requests for pages that don’t exist, so broken links can be found and fixed. It runs in simple mode, which stores only three things: the address that was requested, how many times it was requested, and when it was last requested. It doesn’t store IP addresses, referrers (the page that sent you), or browser details. The log is cleared automatically when it reaches 100 entries.
Image compression
EWWW Image Optimizer compresses JPG images uploaded to the site, using EWWW’s cloud compression service. The plugin sends each image, along with the site’s address, to EWWW’s servers in the United States. According to EWWW’s privacy policy, the files are optimized, sent back, and then deleted from EWWW’s servers. The images are ones the site owner uploads for posts, not files from readers.
Search engine notifications
When a post or page is published or updated, Rank Math sends that page’s address through IndexNow, so search engines can find the change sooner. IndexNow shares submitted addresses with all participating search engines. Rank Math names Bing, Yandex, Seznam, and Naver among them. These notifications contain page addresses only, not information about readers.
Backups
UpdraftPlus makes backup copies of the site, including the database where comments are stored. File backups run weekly and database backups run daily, and both are sent to Google Drive, in the site owner’s own Google account. Nichestead keeps the latest 4 weekly file backups and the latest 14 daily database backups; older copies are deleted automatically as new backups are made.
Nichestead’s Hostinger plan also includes daily backups of the site, kept according to Hostinger’s own retention settings.
How Nichestead uses information
Nichestead uses the information above for these purposes only:
- to publish and moderate comments, and show commenters’ avatars,
- to filter spam and abuse,
- to reply to messages you send, including WordPress questions,
- to deliver pages, keep the site secure, and fix errors such as broken links,
- to keep backups so the site can be restored.
Nichestead doesn’t sell your personal information and doesn’t use it to build advertising profiles.
Who else handles your information
A few outside services handle information so Nichestead can run:
| Service | What it does for Nichestead | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Web hosting, CDN, and daily backups (US data center, Massachusetts) | All site data, including comments, plus request data such as IP addresses |
| Gravatar (Automattic) | Shows commenters’ profile pictures | A hashed version of each commenter’s email address, plus standard request data from browsers that load the images |
| EWWW Image Optimizer cloud compression | Compresses uploaded JPG images | Images the site owner uploads and the site’s address; no reader data |
| Gmail (Google) | The site owner’s email inbox, and (through WP Mail SMTP) the service that sends Nichestead’s own automatic WordPress emails | Emails you send to 0108juyung@gmail.com, and the content of WordPress’s own notification emails, such as new-comment alerts |
| Google Drive (Google) | Stores the site’s UpdraftPlus backups | Full site backups, including the database where comments are stored |
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) or Claude (Anthropic) | Helps draft replies to WordPress questions | The text of your question only, with your name and email address removed |
| Search engines that use IndexNow, such as Bing | Receive notice of new or updated pages | Page addresses only |
Each service handles information under its own privacy policy: Hostinger, Automattic (Gravatar), EWWW, Google (Gmail, Gmail SMTP, and Google Drive), OpenAI (ChatGPT), and Anthropic (Claude). Hostinger’s data processing addendum lists the other companies it uses, including Cloudflare.
Nichestead may also disclose information when the law requires it.
Where information is stored
Nichestead’s operator is based in the Republic of Korea, and the site is hosted in the United States. EWWW’s compression servers are also in the US. Your information is processed by the service providers listed above, in the United States and elsewhere, and may be accessed by the site owner from Korea. Privacy laws in those countries may differ from the laws where you live.
How long information is kept
Nichestead keeps information only as long as it’s needed for the purposes above:
| Information | How long it’s kept |
|---|---|
| Approved comments | Until you ask for removal, or the post is deleted |
| Comments waiting for approval | Until they’re approved or deleted |
| Comments marked as spam | In WordPress’s spam folder until they’re deleted by hand |
| Contact emails | 12 months after the reply, then deleted |
| Hostinger server access logs | Kept according to Hostinger’s own retention settings — see Hostinger’s privacy policy |
| 404 log | Until the log reaches 100 entries and is cleared |
| UpdraftPlus backups | The latest 4 weekly file backups and 14 daily database backups, stored in Google Drive |
| Hostinger daily backups | Kept according to Hostinger’s own retention settings — see Hostinger’s privacy policy |
Your choices and requests
You have several ways to control your information on Nichestead:
- Leave the comment-cookie box unticked if you don’t want your details saved in your browser.
- Clear or block cookies in your browser settings.
- Ask to see, correct, or delete comments and messages you’ve sent.
To make any privacy request, use the Contact page or email 0108juyung@gmail.com. Say what you’re asking for and which comment, message, or email address it’s about. Nichestead may ask you to confirm that you control the email address connected to a request, so information isn’t given to the wrong person.
The sections below describe the requests readers in some places can make. You make them the same way.
Readers in South Korea
If you’re in the Republic of Korea, Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) covers your personal information. You can ask Nichestead to:
- let you see the personal information it holds about you,
- correct information that’s wrong or incomplete,
- delete your personal information,
- stop processing your personal information.
Services outside Korea. Some services that handle personal information for Nichestead are outside the Republic of Korea. Hostinger hosts the site in a US data center, and EWWW’s compression servers are in the US. The other services in the “Who else handles your information” table, such as Gravatar (Automattic), Gmail and Google Drive (Google), ChatGPT (OpenAI), and Claude (Anthropic), may also process information outside Korea. That table lists what each one receives and why, and “How long information is kept” lists retention.
Readers in the European Economic Area or the UK
If you’re in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you can ask Nichestead to:
- give you access to the personal information it holds about you,
- correct information that’s wrong or incomplete,
- delete your personal information,
- restrict how your information is used, or object to its use,
- give you a copy of the information you provided, in a portable format.
You can withdraw consent for comment cookies at any time by deleting them. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Why information is used. Comment cookies are set only with your consent (the checkbox). Comments, avatars, spam filtering, server logs, the 404 log, and backups rely on Nichestead’s legitimate interest in running a secure blog with comments. Replies to emailed questions, including AI-assisted drafts made without your name or email address, rely on Nichestead’s legitimate interest in answering readers.
Transfers. Your information is processed by service providers in the United States and elsewhere: Hostinger, Gravatar (Automattic), EWWW Image Optimizer, Gmail (Google), Google Drive (Google), and ChatGPT (OpenAI) or Claude (Anthropic). It may also be accessed by the site owner from the Republic of Korea.
Readers in US states with privacy laws
If you live in a US state with a consumer privacy law, such as California, this is how Nichestead handles your information:
- What’s collected. Identifiers (name, email address, IP address), internet activity (request data and user agent), and content you submit (comments and messages). This information comes from you and your browser, and it’s used for the purposes listed above.
- Selling and sharing. Nichestead doesn’t sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
You can ask Nichestead to:
- tell you what personal information it holds about you,
- correct information that’s wrong,
- delete your personal information.
Nichestead won’t treat you differently for making a request.
Children’s privacy
Nichestead is written for people starting or running blogs, and it isn’t directed at children. Nichestead doesn’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the minimum age set by the law where they live. If you believe a child has submitted personal information, contact Nichestead and it will be deleted.
How Nichestead protects information
Nichestead uses these measures to protect the information it holds:
- HTTPS encryption on every page, with a certificate from Let’s Encrypt.
- Automatic updates for WordPress, plugins, and themes, managed by Hostinger.
- Two-factor login for the site’s admin account, through WP 2FA.
- Spam filtering with Antispam Bee, plus manual approval of every comment.
- Site backups with UpdraftPlus (to Google Drive) and Hostinger.
No website can promise perfect security, but these measures reduce the risk.
Links to other websites
Posts on Nichestead link to official documentation and other websites. Those sites have their own privacy practices, and this policy doesn’t cover them.
Advertising, analytics, and affiliate links
Nichestead doesn’t show ads, use analytics tools, or include affiliate links today. This section will change before any of those go live.
[ADD BEFORE ANALYTICS GOES LIVE: instructions, not page text] Replace the sentence above and add a section covering:
- the analytics tool and who operates it (for example Google Analytics 4, if added through Site Kit in Phase 8);
- what it collects, which cookies it sets, and how long data is retained in its settings;
- how readers can opt out, and the consent banner (CMP) if one is used;
- a new row in the “Who else handles your information” table and the cookie table.
[ADD BEFORE DISPLAY ADS GO LIVE: instructions, not page text] style-guide.md S14.4 and seo-guide.md G17.11 require, at minimum:
- a statement that third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this and other websites;
- how readers can opt out of personalized advertising, with a link to Google’s ad settings page and to opt-out pages for other vendors;
- the name of every ad network used;
- a link to the consent management platform (CMP) settings for readers in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland;
- updated cookie and “Who else handles your information” tables, and the EEA/UK “Transfers” list;
- a fresh review of the “doesn’t sell” statement and the US state section, since ad cookies can change those answers.
[ADD BEFORE AFFILIATE LINKS GO LIVE: instructions, not page text]
- Explain that clicking an affiliate link may let the merchant or affiliate network set a cookie to connect a purchase to Nichestead.
- Name each affiliate program or network.
- Link to the Affiliate disclosure page.
- If a link-management plugin is added, describe what it records about clicks.
- Add an HTML anchor
affiliate-linkson the new section heading.
[ADD BEFORE EMBEDS OR A NEWSLETTER GO LIVE: instructions, not page text]
- Embedded videos or posts from other sites (such as YouTube) can set their own cookies. Name the services.
- A newsletter needs its own section: the provider, what’s collected, and how to unsubscribe.
Changes to this policy
When Nichestead’s practices change, this policy is updated before the change takes effect, and the “Last updated” date at the top changes. Major changes, such as adding ads or analytics, will be noted at the top of this page.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your information? Use the Contact page or email 0108juyung@gmail.com.