Your words and your personal information matter to us. This Privacy Policy explains, in plain words, what information The Poetic Land collects when you read, write, submit or comment on TPL, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have.
1.Who we are
The Poetic Land (“TPL”, “we”, “us”) runs thepoeticland.com, an international platform for poetry, stories, essays, book reviews and art, with writers and readers in many countries. TPL is operated from India by Shamim Al Mansur, an individual based in Assam, India (full address under Contact us). For the personal data described here, The Poetic Land is the party that decides how and why it is used.
Submissions (poems, stories, essays, reviews, anthology and competition entries): your name or legal name, pen name, age, gender, profession, email address, WhatsApp number, country and state/province, Instagram ID and other social links, profile photo, a short bio, your writing and any files you upload, and where you heard about us.
Verified Writer applications: legal name, occupation, email, phone/WhatsApp, city/state and country, languages and genres, Instagram (and optionally Facebook) profile, your original photo, writing samples, your “manifesto”, and confirmation of the requirements on the form (for example the name or email used in your homepage review).
Writer accounts: your TPL writer ID, email, password (stored only in encrypted, hashed form), profile details, your list of works, and change or edit requests you send us.
Comments, likes and reviews: the name, email address and text you enter; for reviews also your location, rating and photo if you add them.
Messages you send us by email, WhatsApp or social media, and any postal address you give us to receive prizes or merchandise.
Payments (competition entry fees): when you pay, our payment gateway Razorpay shares with us your name, email address, phone number, the amount, the date, the payment status and a payment ID, so that we can confirm your entry. Your card number, CVV, UPI PIN, net-banking password and similar payment details are entered on Razorpay’s secure checkout and are not received or stored by TPL.
Information collected automatically
Your IP address and browser details when you comment or submit a form (used to stop spam and abuse).
Usage data such as pages visited, approximate location (country/city), device and browser type, collected through Google Analytics.
Standard server logs kept by our web host for security and troubleshooting.
Read submissions, contact you about them, publish accepted works with your credit, bio and photo, include them in anthologies and share them on our channels.
Your request and our agreement with you (these Terms); your consent for optional details.
Writer accounts and the blue tick
Create and secure your account, keep you signed in, link your works to your profile, handle change requests.
Our agreement with you.
Competitions and events
Manage entries, judging, results, certificates and prize delivery.
Our agreement with you.
Talking to you
Reply to messages; send status updates about your submissions or application (from submission@thepoeticland.com).
Our agreement with you; our legitimate interest in running TPL.
Safety and spam protection
Rate limits, spam filters, checking for fake accounts, plagiarism and abuse.
Our legitimate interest in keeping TPL safe.
Understanding our audience
Measure visits and popular content with Google Analytics so we can improve the site.
Our legitimate interest, or your consent where the law requires it.
Payments and entry fees
Take competition entry fees through Razorpay, confirm your entry, handle duplicate or failed payments and refunds, and keep payment records.
Our agreement with you (these Terms); legal obligation for tax and accounting records.
Legal reasons
Keep records and respond to lawful requests.
Legal obligation.
We do not sell your personal data, and we do not run advertising networks on TPL. We do not send you marketing emails without your permission.
When your work is published, the following may be shown with it: your name or pen name, photo, short bio, country, the Verified Writer badge and your list of published works. Your comments show the name you enter; homepage reviews show your name, location, rating and photo if you add them.
Your email address, phone/WhatsApp number, age, gender, address and writer password are never published.
We keep these to a minimum. Here is what TPL uses:
What
Why
Login cookies (WordPress / TPL Accounts)
Keep writers and admins signed in, including “keep me logged in”. Only set when you log in.
Comment cookies
Remember your name and email for the next comment, only if you choose to.
Google Analytics (_ga, _ga_*)
Count visits and understand how the site is used. Kept for up to about 2 years.
Age confirmation for the 18+ section
Remembers that you confirmed you are over 18, so you are not asked on every page.
Promo pop-up memory
Remembers that you closed the “share your poem or story” pop-up, so it stays away for a few days.
Site speed (LiteSpeed Cache)
Serve fast cached pages to visitors and keep logged-in pages separate.
You can delete or block cookies and local storage in your browser settings. The site still works, but you may need to log in again or re-confirm your age. To opt out of Google Analytics on all websites, you can use Google’s opt-out browser add-on.
We share personal data only when it is needed to run TPL:
Our team — TPL editors and administrators who review submissions and applications.
Hosting and email providers — who store the website and its database and deliver our emails.
Razorpay — our payment gateway (Razorpay Software Private Limited, India), a PCI DSS certified payment processor. It processes competition entry fee payments and receives the details needed for that, such as your name, email, phone number and payment details. Razorpay’s own privacy policy applies to the payment.
Google — Google Analytics (visit statistics), Google Fonts (typefaces), and Google services we use for backups, sign-in or forms where we offer them.
Content delivery and image-optimisation services (for example jsDelivr) — to load scripts and optimise images quickly. They see your IP address when your browser fetches a file.
Social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, X, Threads, YouTube) and WhatsApp — when we share published works there, or when you contact us through them. Their own privacy policies apply.
AI tools — we may use AI services to help write search-engine descriptions or illustrations for published works. Only the published text is used, never your private contact details.
Competition partners — for collaborated events, only the details needed to run that event, as stated in its rules.
Authorities — when the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of our community.
TPL is run from India and some of our service providers are based in other countries. Your information may therefore be stored or processed outside the country where you live. When this happens, we rely on providers that offer appropriate safeguards, and we handle your data as described in this policy wherever it is processed.
Submissions and applications: for as long as needed to review them, publish accepted work, keep a record of our decision and answer questions about it.
Published works and writer profiles: for as long as the work is published or the account is open, unless you ask us to remove them.
Comments and reviews: until they are removed by you (on request) or by us.
Analytics data: according to our Google Analytics retention settings.
Payment records: for as long as Indian tax and accounting laws require.
When information is no longer needed, we delete it or make it anonymous. We may keep some records longer if the law requires it or to resolve disputes.
access the personal data we hold about you and get a copy;
correct information that is wrong or out of date (verified writers can also send a change request from My Account);
delete your data or your account, and remove your published work;
withdraw consent or object to a particular use, such as analytics;
receive your data in a portable format.
These rights reflect India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and, for people in the European Union and the United Kingdom, the GDPR. To use them, email contact@thepoeticland.com from the address you used with us. We may need to confirm your identity, and we aim to reply within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to the data protection authority in your country.
Young writers are welcome on TPL’s general sections. If you are under 18, you may send us work or personal information only with the permission of a parent or legal guardian, who should help you fill in the form. A parent or guardian can contact us at any time to see, correct or remove a child’s information or work.
The 18+ section is never meant for anyone under 18. If we learn that a minor has submitted to or been featured in it, we will remove that content.
We use HTTPS encryption across the site, store passwords only in hashed form, limit who in our team can see submissions and applications, and use spam protection and rate limits on our forms. Payments are made on Razorpay’s secure checkout; TPL never stores card numbers, CVV, UPI PINs or net-banking passwords. No website can be 100% secure, so please use a strong password that you do not use anywhere else, and tell us straight away if you notice anything suspicious.
We may update this Privacy Policy as TPL grows or the law changes. The “Last updated” date at the top will always show the latest version, and for important changes we will make reasonable efforts to let writers know.