01What we collect
When you join and use DownThunder we keep what you give us, and a little that your browser sends:
- your account: username, email address and password (stored scrambled, never readable)
- if you log in with Facebook: your Facebook user ID, name and email address, to find your account next time. We don’t get your password, friends or posts, keep no access to your Facebook account and never post there
- your profile, if you fill it in: real name, town and state, bio, interests, website and social links, avatar and cover photo
- what you post: rigs and mods, photos, logbook entries, reviews, places, forum posts and stories
- what you do on the site that the site needs to remember: Gears, trophies, saved items, notifications, when you last logged in
- messages you send us through the contact form, with the IP address they came from
- a buyer’s email address, when you share your logbook by email: we use it to send that one email and don’t keep it
02How we use it
To run your account and show what you post, to send you emails, to keep spam and abuse off the site, and to answer you when you write to us. We never sell your data or rent it to anyone.
The emails: account emails (confirming your address, login links, password resets) always come, because you asked for them. Notification emails (a trophy you unlocked, a weekly digest of Lightnings you missed) come unless you switch them off. The weekly round-up only comes if you sign it up, and every one has an unsubscribe link. You set all of it under Lightnings.
03Location & photos
We don’t track where you are. Your town shows on your profile only if you choose to show it. When you add a place and tap “Use my location” to set the pin, your browser asks you first, and we save the place’s pin, not your whereabouts.
Photos are redrawn when you upload them: only the picture is kept, without the camera data and GPS position phones hide inside photo files.
Owners can polish a rig photo with AI (a new background or light). That sends the photo to Google’s Gemini service to make the new version; it only happens when you press the button, and the original stays as it was. Google’s own terms say how long it keeps what it’s sent.
04Logbook & vehicle data
Your rig’s logbook (services, repairs, costs, receipts) is private: only you see it. If you create a share link, for example for a buyer, anyone with that link can read the logbook until the link expires or you turn it off. Entries you mark as public show in your rig’s history.
Your rigs and their mods are public on your garage page, as they have always been on DownThunder.
05Cookies & analytics
We use one cookie of our own, to keep you logged in. There are no advertising cookies and no analytics trackers on the site today.
Pages load fonts from Google Fonts, and maps load from OpenFreeMap (built on OpenStreetMap data); those services see your IP address when your browser fetches them. A topic you’re still writing is kept as a draft in your own browser until you post it.
06Sharing with others
What you post publicly (profile, rigs, photos, reviews, forum posts) is visible to everyone, including search engines. Beyond that we share your data only:
- with the services that run the site for us: hosting, email delivery, and Google Gemini when you use the photo polish
- with Anthropic’s Claude, which our staff use to help write up places and news from public sources; that is public text, not your account data
- with Discord, where our staff get a heads-up when something needs a look or happens on the site: your username, when you join or log in, and what you post or send in; never your email address
- when the law requires it, or to prevent a serious threat to someone’s health or safety
07Overseas
Some of the services above are run from overseas: Google (Gemini and Google Fonts), Anthropic and Discord are based in the United States, and OpenFreeMap in the European Union. What they receive is described above. We choose services that protect the data they handle, and we stay responsible for what we send them.
08Sellers & advertising
A seller’s business name, ABN and business details are shown on their seller page, because members should know who they deal with. What you tell a seller directly is between you and them.
There are no third-party ads on DownThunder today.
09Keeping it safe
Passwords are stored scrambled, the site runs over HTTPS, and only DownThunder staff can see account details like email addresses. No system is perfectly safe; if a breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we tell you and, where the law requires it, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
We keep your data while you have an account. When you delete it, your profile, rigs and photos go straight away; forum posts stay without your name. Contact messages are deleted after two years.
10Your rights
You can change most of your details yourself on your profile. You can also ask us what we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete your account: send a privacy request. We may ask you to confirm it’s really you.
DownThunder follows the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988. We answer privacy requests within 30 days. If you’re not happy with how we handled one, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).
11Kids
DownThunder is for people 16 and older. If you think someone younger has signed up, tell us through the contact form and we’ll remove the account.
12Changes
When the site changes what it collects or who it shares it with, we update this policy and the date at the top, and for bigger changes tell you on the site and by email first.
13Contact
Privacy questions and requests go through the contact form, topic "Privacy request".