Effective date: September 18, 2026
Orthogonal Thinking explains how software, security, homelab infrastructure, and technical products work. This policy describes the information processed when you use orthogonal.info.
Information you provide
We may process information you choose to provide, such as a comment, a subscription address, or information included in a support request. Do not send credentials, private keys, account tokens, or other secrets.
Hosting and security logs
The hosting provider and content delivery network may process ordinary request metadata needed to deliver and secure the site. That can include an IP address, request time, requested path, browser information, and a referring page. These logs are used for availability, abuse prevention, debugging, and security. They are not sold.
Aggregate affiliate funnel measurement
Public published articles and the homepage, Tools directory, buying checklist, buying-guide store, and existing public community/RSS pages use a first-party aggregate counter for page views and selected link navigation, including eligible existing Amazon links and tool links. It does not follow an individual visitor across pages. The aggregate table stores only the date, public WordPress page ID (or shared homepage context 0), measurement-versioned page type, stable placement slot, event category, count, and update time.
The affiliate counter does not store an IP address, User-Agent, raw referrer, email address, customer identifier, session identifier, Amazon ASIN, or destination URL. Its event endpoint is excluded from the site’s Apache access log. Infrastructure providers may still process network metadata while carrying the request.
After a page-view event is acknowledged, the browser uses a sessionStorage marker containing the measurement version, public page ID and UTC date to reduce repeated page-view counts within one tab. It is not a visitor identifier or an advertising cookie and ends with that tab’s browser session. If sessionStorage is unavailable, a page load may be counted again. Blocked or failed requests and cached pages can cause missing counts. Views and clicks are best-effort events, not unique people or proof of a purchase.
Affiliate links
Some articles contain direct Amazon links using Store ID orthogonalinf-20. Those links are marked as sponsored, and a disclosure appears before the first affiliate link. When you follow a link to Amazon, Amazon processes the visit under its own privacy and affiliate policies. We do not receive your Amazon identity, order details, or payment information through the site counter.
Payments
If you choose a paid product or service elsewhere on the site, the payment provider processes payment and checkout information under its own policy. Orthogonal Thinking does not store complete card numbers.
Cookies and local browser storage
The public site does not currently run Google Analytics. WordPress may use cookies for logged-in users, comments, security, or requested functionality. The affiliate funnel described above uses sessionStorage rather than a persistent tracking cookie.
Service providers and sharing
We use service providers for hosting, content delivery, security, payment processing, and site operation. They receive only the information needed to provide those functions. We may disclose information when required by law or when necessary to protect users, the site, or our rights. We do not sell personal information.
Retention and security
Aggregate affiliate counts contain no visitor identifiers and may be retained for trend comparison. Operational and security logs are retained only as needed for service reliability, abuse investigation, and legal obligations. We use access controls and technical safeguards, but no internet service can guarantee absolute security.
Your choices and rights
This first-party counter also runs on public articles and the listed navigation pages, not only buying guides. Browser privacy controls or a content blocker can block requests to the first-party affiliate-event endpoint; closing the tab clears its sessionStorage markers. You can separately control WordPress cookies through your browser. Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or object to processing of personal information about you that we process.
Children and international processing
This site is not directed to children under 13. Service providers may process data in countries other than your own, subject to their legal and security safeguards.
Changes and contact
Privacy requests: Email hello@orthogonal.info. This role-based address is used for privacy and site operations. Do not send passwords, API keys, private files, or other secrets.
Community and subscriptions
The Community discussion is hosted on this WordPress site and every comment is held for moderation before publication. A name and email address are required for moderation; the email address is not displayed publicly. On the Community page, IP address, browser User-Agent, and author website values are removed before a comment is stored. Do not submit secrets, customer data, private URLs, or other personal information in comment text.
RSS is the current subscription channel. Loading or following the RSS feed does not create a subscriber record on this site. Email signup is not enabled until a dedicated send-only mail service is available. Free tools do not require an account or subscription.
The aggregate counter does not collect worksheet answers, search text, tool inputs or file contents, private inquiry routes, or individual navigation histories. Its event requests omit cookies and referrers, and its aggregate records contain no email address, IP address, User-Agent, session ID, destination URL, ASIN, or visitor identifier. Existing hosting/security logs and other disclosed services are separate from this counter. Authenticated page rendering and signed QA tests are excluded from this counter’s normal events. Legacy selected-page counts and the expanded measurement scope are reported separately; missing instrumentation or unavailable data is not treated as zero activity. A click is not proof of a person, purchase, commission, income, or community traction.
Private Automation Reliability inquiries
The optional service inquiry collects only a workflow category, plain-text description, desired outcome and messages you choose to add. No email, upload, production connector, URL fetch or code execution is required or supported. Do not send secrets, client data, private URLs, credentials or pasted logs.
Your browser creates a random private capability link. Only its SHA-256 hash is stored; the secret stays in the link fragment and is sent in same-origin POST requests, not request URLs. Anyone who has the link can read, write to and delete the thread. Keep it secret; browser history, bookmark or clipboard sync may retain it. We cannot recover a lost link. WordPress administrators with private-inquiry permission review and reply; replies require manual polling, not email or operations-channel notifications.
Access expires 30 days after creation or the latest submitted message/operator reply. Viewing and triage changes do not extend retention. Expired records are immediately unavailable, then removed by scheduled or request-time cleanup. Deletion removes live content. Non-content capability-hash deletion markers remain for up to 30 additional days to prevent late retries; keyed abuse counters expire within 24 hours and store no raw IP address.
The private inquiry and operator pages use no third-party analytics, advertising or affiliate measurement. The site’s Apache access log excludes those route prefixes; infrastructure providers still process connection metadata. Request bodies and capability secrets are not intentionally logged by the inquiry application.
Deletion/expiry concerns the live queue. Earlier restricted encrypted backups may retain records until separately deleted; immediate erasure from every backup is not promised. The operator must apply current expiry/deletion before restored data becomes accessible. An inquiry is not a booking, payment, newsletter subscription or approval to change a workflow.