Privacy policy

Our purpose

World of Citrus provides a publicly accessible variety catalog maintained by the site. Members can share observations, photos, and comments alongside that catalog. These contributions help make practical citrus information available to everyone.

Information you give us

Account information includes your email address, member name, and profile details you provide. We also handle your preferences, contributions, and messages you send for support. Contributions include the photos, observations, comments, captions, and growing details you choose to submit.

What becomes public

When you add an observation, photo, or comment to the site, it becomes publicly visible, including to visitors who are not signed in. Your member name and any attribution or details included with the contribution can be visible too. A contribution does not directly change the site-managed catalog.

Public material may be indexed by search engines, saved, linked to, or shared by other people. Removing it from World of Citrus cannot guarantee removal of copies or search results held elsewhere.

Your email address, bookmarks, notification state, and private account preferences are not part of a public contribution. Public member attribution follows your profile visibility settings. If you include personal information in a comment, photo, or caption, however, that information becomes part of what you share publicly.

Photos and location details

Upload only photos whose copyright you own. Once added to the site, your photos are public, while ownership stays with you. Our Terms of use explain the permission you give us to display them.

Photos can reveal faces, addresses, labels, landmarks, and other identifying details. Image files may also contain embedded metadata, such as capture time or GPS coordinates. Remove sensitive details before uploading, and do not assume that the site will remove all metadata for you.

Share only the growing location detail you are comfortable making public. Avoid posting an exact home address or someone else's personal information.

How information is used

We use information to operate accounts and site features, publish and attribute contributions, respond to support requests, and investigate abuse. Hosting and other service providers may process information to deliver these services. Information may also need to be disclosed to meet legal obligations.

Browser storage and technical information

The site uses authentication cookies to maintain your signed-in session. Account preferences are stored with your account. Site infrastructure may process technical information such as IP addresses, browser details, and request logs to deliver and protect the service.

We use Google Analytics to measure visits to public catalog pages only after you accept analytics cookies. This includes which varieties are viewed and how many visitors view each variety. Google may process device and browser information and cookie identifiers to provide this service. Advertising storage and personalization are disabled in our integration. Our page-view events omit query strings and URL fragments. We do not send account details, observation text, or form contents as analytics events.

Your cookie choice is saved in this browser for six months. Use Cookie settings in the footer to accept or reject analytics later. Rejecting analytics does not prevent you from using the catalog or signing in. Withdrawing consent stops future collection and removes accessible Google Analytics cookies; it does not delete data already collected. Blocking browser storage may affect sign-in or remembered settings. See Google’s privacy policy for its processing practices.

Retention and removal

You can download your account data or request account deletion from your account page. Deletion requires identity confirmation and removes your account, private preferences, uploaded photos, and your observations and comment text. Replies from other members may remain in a discussion with a placeholder for a removed comment.

If an account is linked to protected shared catalog records, deletion may require support to arrange attribution first. You can also contact us about removing a particular contribution without closing your account.

The final policy will specify retention periods for support messages, operational records, and backups.

We will explain any limits on a removal request, including records that must be retained for legal reasons and copies awaiting normal backup expiry. We cannot remove copies controlled by other websites or visitors.

Your questions and choices

You can ask about information associated with your account, request corrections or removal, and raise a concern about a public contribution by emailing support@worldofcitrus.com. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on requests involving private account information.

Account participation is intended for people aged 13 or older, subject to applicable local requirements. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information that should be removed.

Policy updates

As this draft is finalized, we will confirm provider locations and retention practices. Material changes to the published policy will be identified here, with additional notice where appropriate.