Privacy

The short version

This site counts visits and a handful of useful clicks so I can tell which bowls people care about and which of my links work. It does not know who you are. There are no advertising pixels, no cross-site tracking, and no fingerprinting. Nothing here is sold or shared.

Traffic counts

Cloudflare Web Analytics counts page views. It uses no cookies and keeps no identifier about you. I see totals: which pages, roughly where from, on what kind of device.

One first-party cookie

When you first visit, the site sets a cookie called coc_vid. It holds a random number and nothing else: no name, no email, nothing typed anywhere. It lets the site tell that two visits came from the same browser, so I can see, for example, that someone who arrived from Instagram came back a week later and joined the Dispatch. It is only ever sent to this site, it expires after one year, and it is set with secure, same-site attributes. If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, the cookie is not set at all and the site still works exactly the same.

How you found the site

Your browser keeps a small note, in its own local storage, of how you first reached the site (say, Instagram) and how you most recently reached it. That note stays in your browser; it is sent along only when the site records one of the actions below. Clearing your browser storage removes it.

What actions are counted

Opening a restaurant page. Tapping Get directions. Tapping Watch on Instagram or TikTok, or the embedded video. Using the map or the search box. Starting the Dispatch signup form. Seeing or tapping a labeled sponsor placement. Using a promo link. Each is recorded with the page, the restaurant, the source of the visit, and the country. Never the contents of any form.

These records are stored with Cloudflare, the company that hosts this site, and a copy of the same actions may pass through Cloudflare Zaraz, its tag manager, which I use only for the events above.

The Maryland Food Dispatch

If you join the Dispatch, your email address goes to Beehiiv, the newsletter service that sends it, together with the page you joined from. Every issue has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing is honored immediately. Beehiiv's own privacy policy covers how it handles email.

Embedded content

Restaurant pages embed the review video from Instagram or TikTok. When that embed loads, those companies may set their own cookies under their own policies. The map uses OpenStreetMap tiles. Get directions opens Google Maps in a new tab. Sponsor links pass through a short /go/ address on this site that records the click before sending you on; sponsors see counts, never who clicked.

Your choices

Block or delete the cookie: everything still works. Turn on Global Privacy Control: no cookie, no identifier. Unsubscribe from the Dispatch with the link in any issue. Questions: creamofcrab.md@gmail.com.