Privacy policy
Last updated: 29 October 2026
Gloren is in early access and joining is by invitation. This policy explains how we handle personal data today; we will update it as Gloren grows and show the date of each change above.
Who is responsible
Gloren is run by its founders, who decide how the personal data described here is used (the data controller). For any privacy question or request, write to help@gloren.org.
What we collect
From Google sign-in: your name, email address and Google account identifier. What you add: your nickname, academic stage, institution, research field, About text, optional teaching details, location, ORCID, photo or AI avatar, and your real first and last name and phone number (the phone number is stored encrypted). What you do on Gloren: posts, comments, reactions, messages, connections and follows, and reports. Technical data: sign-in sessions, security and abuse-prevention records, and records of the emails we send you.
Why we use it and on what legal basis
To provide Gloren — your account and profile, the forum, messages, connections and notifications (performance of our agreement with you, GDPR Article 6(1)(b)). To keep the community safe — automated and human moderation, membership verification, abuse prevention and security records (our legitimate interest in a safe, trustworthy community, Article 6(1)(f), and the duties of online platforms). To help members find each other — suggestions based on country, academic stage, institution and research field; if you have not set a location, we use the country of your phone number only to group these suggestions, and it is never shown on your profile (legitimate interest). To send the service emails described below (agreement and legitimate interest; you can switch most of them off). For optional features you choose, such as AI avatars and the opt-in research profile search (your request and consent, which you can withdraw at any time). We do not sell your data, show advertising or use your data for advertising.
Automated checks
New posts, comments, images and connection notes are checked automatically with OpenAI for safety and the community rules. A check can move a post to a better-fitting category or hold content for a moderator; it never deletes your account or makes a final decision on its own. When content is held you are told why, and a moderator reviews it, usually within 72 hours. You can always edit it or post again.
Who can see what
Forum posts and comments are public and may appear in search engines such as Google. Profiles, the People pages, messages and account pages are not indexed by search engines. You choose who can see each profile detail: everyone or only your connections. Your real name is visible to connections only unless you change it, and your phone number is private. Direct messages are visible only to the people in the conversation.
Emails we send
A welcome email when you join; at most one email a day about new messages and one about new connection requests; an email when someone accepts your connection request; an email for each comment on your post and each direct reply to your comment (up to 10 a day); an email about new forum posts with the title and first lines of the public post (up to 3 a day); and an email when your own post or comment is held or rejected, with the reason. Emails never contain the text of private messages. You can switch off message, connection, reply and new-post emails in Account → Notifications.
Services we rely on
Google (sign-in), Vercel (hosting, EU region in Frankfurt), Neon (database), Cloudflare R2 (image storage), Amazon Web Services (sending email, Frankfurt), Proton (our help@gloren.org mailbox, Switzerland), OpenAI (automated checks, tag suggestions, the opt-in research profile search and AI avatars you request) and Geoapify (location suggestions). They process personal data only on our instructions and under data processing terms.
Data outside the European Economic Area
Some of these providers — Google, OpenAI, Cloudflare, Vercel and Amazon — are US companies and may process data in the United States. These transfers rely on the European Commission's adequacy decision for the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, for certified companies, or on the standard contractual clauses in the providers' data processing terms. Part of our team works from India and can access the member data needed to moderate the community; this access is covered by standard contractual clauses.
How long we keep it
Your account data is kept while your account exists. When you delete your account, your personal data is erased straight away and the text of your posts, comments and messages is removed; copies in automatic database backups disappear within 30 days. Earlier versions of edited posts and comments are kept privately for up to 180 days for moderation. Emails sent to or from gloren.org addresses are kept for one year. Records of notification emails are kept for up to 48 hours. Security and moderation records are kept only as long as needed to protect the community and handle disputes, and are reviewed regularly.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you can access, correct, delete or export your data, restrict or object to its use, and withdraw consent at any time. You can download your data and delete your account yourself in Account → Settings. For anything else, write to help@gloren.org; we reply within one month. You can also complain to the Polish data protection authority, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (UODO, uodo.gov.pl).
Cookies and storage
We use only essential cookies: to keep you signed in, protect your account and remember your language. Your browser may also store small preferences, such as dismissed invitation cards. There are no advertising or analytics cookies.
Age and changes
Gloren is for adults aged 18 or older. We will update this policy as the app develops and show the date of the latest version at the top.
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