Disclaimer
This legal stuff can be boring & you might not want to read it. We understand, but we encourage you to do so anyway as, whether you read it or not, it has been provided in good faith and made easily available, which means that your use of, interaction with, and/or participation in any activities on Earl & Edna (hereafter refered to as "This Website") constitutes an agreement that you understand and accept the terms, rights, responsibilites & everything else outlined, or otherwise covered, within this document.
This disclaimer outlines the terms and conditions for the use of information found on This Website and/or information that This Website links to.
It is understood that by using any of the information and/or suggestions found on This Website or pages This Website links to, whether you've read this document or not, you are taking personal responsibility for and sole ownership of any and all results, outcomes and consequences and will hold This Website, it's owners, and it's contributors blameless.
All content on This Website is based on our own personal experiences or those of our contributors and is provided in good faith. It is our strict policy that information provided on This Website is vetted to the best of our ability and based on actual use, experience and research, but we are NOT experts and cannot vouch for the expertise of our contributors.
As it is impossible to do so, we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information that we provide or that may be provide on sites that we link to. We are not liable for any errors or omissions in this information or for the current or future availability of any information either on This Website or any site we may link to.
The content on This Website is for information purposes only and is not intended to replace or be viewed as professional and/or expert advice in any area or field including, but not limited to, technical, mechanical, electrical, medical, legal, psychological, philosophical, seismological and herbological. We also do not control the weather, animal migrations, traffic patterns, price changes, user error, parking availability, language barriers or acts of a higher power.
We will not be liable for any accidents, losses, headaches, bouts of swearing, overuse of sick leave, wrong turns, arguments, misspent youth, injuries, reckless behaviors, indigestion, spending too much money on Amazon, internet usage, YouTube binging, experiencing results that are not similar to our own, property damages, death or any other actual or perceived ill effects from the display or use of information found on This Website.
We strongly encourage you to use your own judgment, do your own research, take all necessary safety precautions, develop relevant skills, consider your own needs, resources and limitations, and seek out any and all appropriate professional/expert advice. What you choose to do with any information found on This Website or any of the sites we link to is completely beyond our control or responsibility.
Of course all of that should have gone without saying, but apparently we have to say it so there it is. We want to share our adventures with you and, hopefully, inspire you to get out there and have awesome adventures but don't blame us if you fall out of a tree, that's on you and, possibly, the tree.
1. Data Collection
The simple act of visiting a website leaves a trail of information, a “digital footprint“, about visitors. Sometimes this footprint is vague and preserves your anonymity and other times it is tied specifically to you and your real life identity.
If all you do is click around and read pages, the data captured about you is vague and doesn’t include any personal information. If you leave a comment, sign up for a newsletter or voluntarily provide your personal information in any other way, the data captured about you will, by default, be more specific.
The Majority of websites you visit collect data about their visitors in this fashion in order to insure a good visitor experience, protect from malicious behavior, and improve the functionality and longevity of their site; This Website is no different.
All personal data that is collected by This Website is done on a voluntary and informed basis. We do not barter, sell or trade any data that we collect, nor do we provide it to advertisers for any reason. As per legal requirements, data will be given to law enforcement when requested, but only when legal processes are followed.
While we do a monthly purge of all analytic data older than 365 days, personal information provided directly through contact forms, comments or subscriptions may be kept indefinitely. This personal information as well as all anonymous information collected for analytical purposes can be removed at any time just by asking.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user’s experience more efficient and enjoyable. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission.
As far as we are aware, the cookies on This Website are set for 6 different purposes:
Analytics
This Website uses Matomo to analyze traffic and help us to improve your user experience.
We chose to use Matomo because we value our visitors privacy and right to remain anonymous while browsing our site. Matomo doesn’t track users across sites and the data tracked isn’t used for “other purposes”, as is the case with Google Analytics. It also allows us to keep all data collected on our own servers and completely anonymize potentially personally identifiable information. In a nutshell, Matomo lets us monitor and improve our content without having to compromise our integrity or your privacy.
The information we receive about our visitors includes an anonymized version of their IP address and User ID, their general location, which may include the country, region, city & approximate latitude and longitude, and the language settings and screen resolution of the their browser.
Additional information gathered includes, page views based on page title and URL, click through, time spent on the site, and any links to outside domains that are clicked on. We do not gather information about referring domains.
Affiliate Links
Some, but not all, of the links on This Website are affiliate links, which means that if you click on them and purchase something, a small portion of the sale will go to help support This Website and keep her running. It does not cost you anything extra to purchase from an affiliate link, but it means a great deal to us, so if you choose to do that, thanks so much for your support. We really, really appreciate it!
Clicking an affiliate link sets a tracking cookie to record where the click came from – this is how we get paid. The cookie is set on our site, but processed on by our affiliate partner (in most cases ‘Amazon’) and covered by their Privacy Policy.
Social Sharing
When you share our content on a social media platform such as Facebook, a cookie is set. These cookies are usually connected with your own social media account (whichever one you are sharing our content on). When you are logged into them, you share this information through them, which is something we have no control over.
Commenting
Our commenting system uses cookies so that our visitor won’t need to re-type all their information each time they leave a comment. Your name, email account and potentially your website address will be stored in this cookie as well as information about any social media account you choose to sign into the commenting system with . An additional cookie will be set if you elect to subscribe to a comment.
You can request the removal of your commenting account information from our system at any time.
We use Akismet for spam protection in our comment section, you can read their privacy policy here.
Embedded Content
Some pages and posts on This Website may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you are viewing it on the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Cookie Consent
If you consent to our use of cookies, a cookie will be created that includes an anonimyzed version of your IP address. This cookie will be saved for 365 days, after that you may have to consent to them again.
You have the option of refusing cookies, we're nice people & forcing cookies on other people is mean. Refusing cookies may have some effect on how you see and interact with our website. Sorry about that.
Contact & Post Subscriptions
Using the contact form, contacting us through one of our direct email links, or subscribing to receive post updates does not set cookies, but it does save your name and email address to our system where it pretty much just sits and gathers dust bunnies, we've checked. It also, of course, provides us personally with your name and email address, as well as any other information you might include.
This information will only be used for the express purposes for which it was provided, it will never be used for marketing (unless of course that's why you provided it) or provided to any third party unless required by law, and you will not receive any unsolicited emails from us.
If for any reason, any reason at all, you want us to remove this information, just drop us a line and we'll scrub you from the system. We'll even delete any emails we've received from you.
2. Site Ownership & Contact Information
This Website (earlandedna.com) is a personal website owned and operated by Earl & Edna based in the beautiful state of Arizona, USA.
You can contact us through the contact form. We love hearing from you, but as we are often out in the middle of nowhere, there is no guarantee when we will get emails or have the ability to respond to them immediately, so please be patient, we will get back to you as soon as we can.
3. Copyright
This Website (earlandedna.com), all of it's content, any of it's current or future related websites and social media accounts are the sole property of Earl & Edna. We work very hard creating our content, therefore reproducing it in any manner without our personal written and signed permission is not allowed.
We love sharing our life with you, and we really appreciate it when you share it with others, it’s a tremendous compliment, all that we ask is that you only use the sharing methods available on the site in order to ensure that others can find and enjoy our content as well.
Sharing our content in any other way is considered a violation of our copyright, this includes putting the work on your own blog or website without our express permission.
In other words, stealing is bad. Just say no to stealing. Say no!
4. Commenting Policy
The free and open exchange of ideas and opinions is a beautiful thing and it is a right that we support whole-heartedly, but that exchange is only free if everyone feels safe and comfortable enough to participate. Communication through the written word gives us the ability to compose our thoughts clearly, carefully and precisely before presenting them to the world. We ask you to take full advantage of that ability in your interactions on our website in order to make the experience as pleasant as possible for all of our visitors and to encourage open discourse.
The Rules
We only have a few rules for commenting on This Website. It is our hope that they will help create a safe, friendly environment that promotes a healthy and helpful exchange of ideas and information.
Be polite.
Swearing, hate speech, rudeness, trolling, starting flame wars, or any other offensive, inflammatory or mean-spirited behavior will not be tolerated. Disagreement is not only unavoidable, it is also arguably necessary and beneficial to both growth and discourse, but it's possible to disagree without degrading ourselves or others with hate, anger and meanness. Kindness matters! Any comment that breaks this rule will be removed and the commenter will be banned if the behavior continues.
Use common sense when commenting.
Comments on This Website are not private, they are viewable to anyone who visits the website.
Commenting on any publicly viewable website, including This Website, is completely voluntary and done at your own risk. Use discretion, keep yourself safe! Do not share any personal information that you wouldn't want the entire world knowing. We cannot be held responsible for any potential consequences that may arise from the information that you choose to share.
Do not use the comment section for advertising.
The comment section is for comments, not advertisements. All comments should be related to the post they are associated with or the ongoing conversation about the post. If a comment has no bearing on it's associated post and/or is clearly for the purpose of advertising a product or service, it will be removed. If you wish to advertise on this site, please go through the proper channels.
Help us keep the comments friendly for everyone.
If you see a comment that you feel is inappropriate, may need editing or breaks one of our rules, please point it out to us using the moderation system so that appropriate action can be taken.
Use, editing & removal of comments.
Commenting on This Website is, of course, completely voluntary and all comments are freely give to This Website without coercion or bias for any use without further notice. You may, at any time, remove yourself as well as any and/or all of your own comments at your discretion and without our involvement or permission. If you need assistance with the editing or removal of your comment, please let us know, we are happy to help.
We reserve the right to use any comment in any way that we see fit for the promotion of the website and/or it's content without notification to the commenter. Use of comments for promotional purposes may include, but is not limited to, sharing comments in other locations on the website or any of our public profiles on social networks. In order to protect our visitors privacy, use of comments outside of This Website may include the commenter's first name and last initial or username as shown in the commenting section as well as a link to the comments corresponding post. It will not include a link to or reference toward any of the commenter's own social media accounts or other methods of contact provided by the commenter that may be available on This Website.
If you remove a comment, it will also be immediately removed from all areas of the website where it may have been used, but it will remain on any social networks that it is has been used on until you contact us directly to request it's removal as this is not an automated function and we cannot possibly monitor every comment removal.
We reserve the right to make changes to or edit comments as we deem necessary. These edits will not alter the context or substance of the comment but may include spelling corrections, removal of advertising, removal of potentially compromising information, or editing of four letter words that are inappropriate for all audiences. These edits will be at our discretion and may be done without warning or notification to the commenter.
We reserve the right to remove comments at our own discretion and without warning to the poster of the comment, we further reserve the right to ban any commenter without warning or reason.
5. Privacy Policy
This privacy policy tells you how we use personal information collected at this site. Please read this privacy policy before using the site or submitting any personal information. By using the site, you are accepting the practices described in this privacy policy. These practices may be changed, but any changes will be posted and changes will only apply to activities and information on a going forward, not retroactive basis. You are encouraged to review the privacy policy whenever you visit the site to make sure that you understand how any personal information you provide will be used.
Our privacy policy is for This Website, Earl & Edna Explore (earlandedna.com), only. If you visit another website through a link, please review the privacy policies posted at those sites.
Cookies & Other Information Collection
We collect personally identifiable information, currently only names and email addresses, when voluntarily submitted as well as anonymous information gathered through automated processes. All of our methods of information collection, including the use of cookies, are described above in section 1. This information is only used in accordance to the purpose for which it was given, ie for email contact or subscription to posts, unless permission is expressly given to use it in another manner.
Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from This Website onto their computers hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browsers security settings to block all cookies from This Website and its external serving vendors or use the one of the cookie control systems we've made available.
Contact & Communication With Us
Users contacting us through This Website do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. All personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use.
Where we have clearly stated and made you aware of the fact, and where you have given your express permission, we may use your details to send you website or travel information through a mailing list system.
Comment Area Use
Commenting on any website presents privacy issues, it is no different on This Website. Both commenter information and the content of comments is visible to anyone who views the site. With this in mind, users are advised that commenting on this site, as with any other site, is done at their own risk.
Comments are made voluntarily and we have very little control over what a user chooses to share in a comment. If a user chooses to put personal information in a comment, they should understand that other people will see it and they do so at their own risk. We do not spend all our time monitoring our comment section, if we do catch something that we think is too personal we will do what we can to mitigate any privacy issues, but we will not be held responsible for any consequences, perceived or otherwise, that arise from over-sharing.
Downloads & Media Files
If any downloadable documents, files or media are made available by us on This Website, they are provided to users at their own risk.
While we take all possible precautions to ensure the safety of any downloads we personally provide, we advise users to verify the safety and authenticity of any and all downloads using third party anti-virus software or similar applications.
We make every attempt to remove questionable uploads from the comment section, but we may not catch them all. we cannot guarantee or verify the contents, authenticity or safety of such uploaded content. Users should therefore keep in mind that if they download or open any such content, they do so at their own risk and we cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused.
Distribution of Information
We may share information with governmental agencies or other companies assisting us in fraud prevention or investigation. We may do so when: (1) permitted or required by law; or, (2) trying to protect against or prevent actual or potential fraud or unauthorized transactions; or, (3) investigating fraud which has already taken place. The information is not provided to these companies for marketing purposes.
Data Security
Your personally identifiable information, that you expressly provide, is kept secure. Only authorized agents and contractors (who have agreed to keep information secure and confidential) have access to this information. No other personally identifiable information is gathered or kept by us and, as mentioned earlier, all visitor data collected is kept on our servers rather than being sent to a third party.
We reserve the right to make changes to any and all aspects of this page without notice. We encourage our visitors to review it regularly to ensure that they continue to agree with our rules and policies. This page has been written by website owners, not lawyers, therefore it cannot be considered a professional legal document, however we have made every effort to follow all legal requirements in relation to the subject matter covered. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the policies and procedures outlined on this page.
Phew! That was some of the toughest writing I've done since college. If you read this whole page, thank you and congratulations! Now go do something fun, or at least get up and stretch your legs, and enjoy the rest of your visit. I promise the rest of the website is more enjoyable than this part was.