Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

THE FOLIO is a hand-bound video game publication producing long-form video game reviews, release news, and lore essays. You can reach our editorial desk at [email protected]. Throughout this policy, "we", "us", and "the publication" refer to THE FOLIO.

2. The short version

• We use one cookie-equivalent value, stored in your browser, to remember your choice about the consent banner. That is the only client-side state we keep.
• If you write a Letter to the Editor, we store your message in a text file on our own server so an editor can read and reply to it.
• If you join The Press List, we store your email address in a separate text file on our own server so we can send you the newsletter.
• We do not run third-party advertising or analytics trackers, and we never sell, rent, or distribute your information to anyone.

3. The Colophon Consent banner (cookies)

When you first arrive, a fixed banner at the bottom of the page — the Colophon Consent — asks whether you accept our use of a local preference value. Your decision is saved in your browser's localStorage under a single key, so the banner does not reappear on every visit and so we can remember your video game reading preferences on this device.

This value lives entirely in your own browser. It is not a tracking cookie, it is not transmitted to any third party, and it contains no personal information beyond the fact that you made a choice. Choosing "Not now" simply records that preference; choosing "Ink the Page" records acceptance. You can clear it at any time by clearing your browser's site data for this domain, after which the banner will appear again.

4. Letters to the Editor

The contact form ("Letters to the Editor") asks for your name, email address, subject, and message. When you submit it, we sanitise the input and append it as a single record to a protected text file (letters.txt) stored on our own server. We use a database for nothing on this site — your letter is plain text in a server file, nothing more.

We use the information you provide solely to read your letter and, where appropriate, to reply to you at the address you supplied. We retain letters only as long as needed for editorial correspondence and record-keeping, and we never distribute them to any third party.

5. The Press List (newsletter)

If you subscribe to The Press List, we append your email address to a separate server-side text file (press-list.txt) along with the date you subscribed. We use this only to send you THE FOLIO's newsletter of video game reviews, news, and lore essays. Every issue includes a way to unsubscribe, and you may also ask us to remove you at any time by writing to [email protected].

6. How submissions are stored and secured

Both forms use a Post/Redirect/Get flow, and all input is sanitised before it is written. Submissions are stored in flat text files on the server that hosts this publication. There is no third-party form processor, no marketing platform, and no external database in the path. Your information does not leave our server except when an editor replies to you directly by email.

7. Server logs

Like nearly all websites, the web server may keep standard access logs (for example, IP address, request time, and user agent) for security and reliability. With each form submission we also store the originating IP address alongside the record, strictly to help us prevent abuse of the forms. We do not use these logs to build advertising profiles.

8. Your choices

• Cookies: decline the consent banner, or clear your site data, to remove the stored preference.
• Newsletter: unsubscribe at any time, or ask us to delete your address.
• Letters: ask us to delete a letter you sent, and we will remove the record.

9. Children

THE FOLIO is intended for a general audience interested in video games and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

10. Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle your information, we will update this page and revise the "Last set" date above. Material changes will be reflected here before they take effect.

11. Contact

Questions about privacy at THE FOLIO can be sent to [email protected] or through our Letters to the Editor page.