Privacy policy
Last updated 27 October 2026
TropeDungeon is a small, reader-built book database. We collect as little as we can, we don't sell anything about you, and there are no advertising or analytics cookies on the site.
Who we are
TropeDungeon (tropedungeon.com) is run by Axle Network in the United Kingdom. We are the controller of the personal data described here. For anything about your data, email privacy@tropedungeon.com.
What we collect and why
| What | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account details: email address, display name, password (stored only as a one-way hash), sign-up date and when you were last active | To run your account and let you log in | Contract |
| Your reading list: the books you add to your TBR list and their status (to read, reading, read) | It's the feature you signed up for | Contract |
| Author profiles (author accounts only): the bio, photo link, website and social links you add, your featured book, and your reading list if you choose to show it | To show your public author page. Everything here is public by design, and your TBR list stays private unless you switch it on | Consent and contract |
| Submissions: books you submit and tropes you suggest, plus the optional "Credit me as" name | To review and publish them. A credit name is shown publicly on the book page | Legitimate interests |
| Votes: a short code made by scrambling your IP address and browser type, stored next to each upvote or trope confirmation | To stop the same person voting twice. We can't turn it back into your IP address | Legitimate interests |
| Visit statistics: the page visited, the referring page, your browser type and a scrambled visitor code (not your IP address) | To count visitors and spot problems | Legitimate interests |
| Server logs: IP address, time, page requested and browser type | Security, blocking abuse and fixing faults. Login and sign-up attempts are rate-limited by IP address | Legitimate interests |
We don't ask for your real name, address, date of birth or payment details, and we don't send marketing email.
The barcode scanner
If you scan a book's barcode on the submit page, the camera feed is read inside your browser to find the ISBN. Video and images are never uploaded to us.
Who else is involved
- OVHcloud hosts the site and its database on servers in France.
- Google Fonts: your browser downloads the site's fonts from Google, which sees your IP address as part of that request. See Google's fonts privacy FAQ.
- Book cover images load directly from the sites that host them, such as Open Library and Amazon. Those sites see your IP address and browser type, as with any image on the web.
- Open Library: when you look up a book by title or ISBN, our server asks Open Library for the details. Only the title or ISBN is sent, nothing about you.
- Amazon: "Find it on Kindle" links are Amazon Associates affiliate links. When you click one you're on Amazon's site and under Amazon's privacy notice. Amazon reports qualifying sales to us as totals. We never learn who bought what.
We never sell or rent personal data. We'd only hand it over if the law required it.
How long we keep it
- Account and reading list: until you ask us to delete your account.
- Author profile: until you remove it or delete your account. Your books stay listed, because they're public information.
- Login session: 30 days, or until you log out.
- Submissions and votes: as long as the book or trope stays listed.
- Server logs: about 14 days.
- Backups: nightly database backups are kept for up to 14 days, so deleted data disappears from them within two weeks.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:
- send you a copy of your data
- correct your data
- delete your data, including your whole account
- restrict how we use your data, or object to it
- send your data to you in a portable format
Email privacy@tropedungeon.com from the address on your account and we'll reply within one month. If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Security
The whole site uses HTTPS. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt, so even we can't read them. Login cookies can't be read by scripts, and every form that changes your account is protected against cross-site forgery.
Age
TropeDungeon covers adult fiction and is only for people aged 18 or over. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you think we have, email us and we'll delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top. If we make a significant change that affects account holders, we'll say so on the site.