Privacy & cookies
Privacy policy
This policy explains what personal information CraftingUK collects, why, who we share it with, how advertising on the site works, and the choices and rights you have. We collect as little as we can and we never sell your personal information.
Last updated: 26 September 2026
Who we are
CraftingUK (craftinguk.com) is an independent craft community run from the United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), CraftingUK is the data controller for the personal information described here. You can reach us about anything in this policy through our contact form.
What we collect
- Account details: your username, display name, email address and a securely hashed password (we cannot see your password). Optionally a profile photo, short bio and website link.
- What you post: projects, comments, photos, “Made it!” photos and pattern files. These are public by design, apart from your email address, which is never shown.
- Pattern ownership declarations: when you upload a pattern we record your display name, the date and time, and your IP address, as evidence of who declared they own the copyright.
- Messages to us: your name, email address and whatever you write when you use the contact form or report a post.
- Activity on the site: the posts you love or save, and your UK/US terms preference.
- Technical information: like almost every website, our web server records IP addresses, browser type, pages requested and the time of each request. We use this for security, to stop spam and abuse, and to fix problems.
- Advertising and measurement data: when adverts are shown, Google and its partners may collect information such as cookie identifiers, IP address, device and browser details and the pages you visit. See Advertising.
Photos you upload have their metadata, including any GPS location, removed automatically.
How we use it, and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Running your account and publishing what you post | Contract: providing the service you signed up for |
| Emails you need, such as password resets, and notifications you can switch off, such as comments on your posts | Contract, and legitimate interests |
| Keeping the site secure, preventing spam and abuse, and moderating content | Legitimate interests |
| Recording pattern copyright declarations and handling takedown requests | Legitimate interests, and legal obligations |
| Replying to messages you send us | Legitimate interests |
| Showing adverts that pay for the site | Consent for personalised ads and advertising cookies; legitimate interests for limited, non-personalised ads where the law allows |
We never sell your personal information, and we don’t send marketing emails.
Cookies
Cookies are small files stored by your browser. We use these:
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Type | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
cuk | CraftingUK | Keeps you logged in and protects forms from forgery | Strictly necessary | Up to 30 days |
terms | CraftingUK | Remembers whether you chose UK or US craft terms | Preference | 1 year |
Google advertising cookies, for example __gads, __gpi, IDE, DSID | Google and its advertising partners | Serving and measuring adverts, limiting how often you see the same ad, and, with your consent, personalising ads | Advertising | Up to 13 months |
Consent choice cookies, for example FCCDCF, FCNEC | Google’s consent tool | Remembers your privacy and cookie choices | Strictly necessary | Up to 13 months |
Visitors in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland are asked for their consent before advertising cookies are used for personalised ads. You can change your mind at any time using the Privacy & cookie settings link at the bottom of every page. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site will still work, but you’ll need to log in again.
Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts. This doesn’t set cookies, but it does send your IP address to Google so the fonts can be delivered.
Advertising
CraftingUK is free to use and is paid for by adverts served by Google AdSense. In plain terms:
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your previous visits to this website and to other websites.
- Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
- You can opt out of personalised advertising at any time in Google’s My Ad Center (previously Ads Settings). You will still see adverts, but they won’t be based on your interests.
- You can also opt out of many third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalised advertising at youronlinechoices.com/uk or aboutads.info.
- If you don’t consent to personalised ads, Google may still show non-personalised ads, which use cookies only for things like frequency capping, aggregated reporting and fraud prevention.
To find out more, read how Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and how Google uses cookies in advertising. The full list of Google’s advertising partners is shown in the consent message.
We don’t pass your account details, email address or anything you post to advertisers.
Who we share it with
- Our web hosting provider, which stores the site and its data on servers in the UK or EU.
- Our email provider, to send password resets and notifications.
- Google, for advertising and fonts, as described above.
- Everyone, for content you choose to make public: your display name, profile, posts, comments, photos and patterns.
- Authorities or rights holders, only where the law requires it or to deal with a valid legal claim, such as a copyright dispute.
International transfers
Google may process information in the United States and other countries. Where personal information leaves the UK, it is protected by the UK’s adequacy regulations, including the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, or by approved contractual safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.
How long we keep it
- Account and posts: until you delete them or ask us to delete your account.
- Pattern ownership declarations: for as long as the pattern is published, then up to 6 years in case of a copyright dispute.
- Contact form messages: 12 months.
- Reports about posts: up to 2 years.
- Server logs: kept by our hosting provider for a limited period, usually a few months.
- Anti-abuse rate-limit records: about an hour.
- Advertising cookies: see the cookie table.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- get a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- have inaccurate information corrected;
- have your information deleted;
- restrict or object to how we use it, including objecting to anything based on legitimate interests;
- receive your information in a portable format;
- withdraw consent at any time, for example for personalised ads, using Privacy & cookie settings.
You can edit your profile and delete your own posts, photos and patterns at any time. For anything else, use our contact form and choose Privacy or data request. If you have an account, write from its registered email address so we can confirm it’s you. We’ll respond within one month.
If you’re unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office. We’d appreciate the chance to put things right first.
Children
You must be 13 or older to create an account. Our Kids’ Crafts section is written for parents and carers to use with children; it is not aimed at children themselves. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please let us know and we’ll delete it.
Changes to this policy
We’ll update this page if anything changes, and change the date at the top. If a change significantly affects how we use your information, we’ll tell members by email or with a notice on the site.