Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Tampa Bay is Awesome (Tampa Bay is Awesome, "we," "us," or "our") is a local media brand founded by Joe "Mr. Tampa Bay" Malinowski. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information on tampabayisawesome.com (the "Site"). Our social media accounts, including Tampa Bay is Awesome, St. Pete is Awesome, Clearwater Beach is Awesome, Dunedin is Awesome, and Mr. Tampa Bay, are also governed by the privacy policies of the platforms they live on.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

Contact form: your name, email address, the topic you choose, and your message.
Real estate inquiry form: your name, email address, and, if you choose to share them, your phone number, what you're looking to do (buy, sell, build, invest, or relocate), timeline, area, price range, and message.
Email and direct messages: anything you send us directly, including tips, event details, photos, and business inquiries.
Newsletter: if you sign up, your email address and first name (if you give it) go straight to our email newsletter provider, Mailchimp (Intuit), which handles them under its own privacy statement.

Please don't send sensitive information, such as financial account numbers or government ID numbers, through our forms.

Information collected automatically

Server logs: like nearly every website, our hosting provider automatically records technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, pages viewed, the referring page, and the date and time.
Spam and abuse protection: when you submit a form, we use your IP address to limit repeat submissions. It's stored only as a one-way scrambled code (a "hash") and it expires automatically within 24 hours.
Analytics: we may use analytics tools, such as Google Analytics or our host's built-in statistics, to understand how many people visit and which articles they read. These tools may use cookies and collect information like your approximate location (city or region), device, and pages viewed.

3. Cookies and third-party content

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. We don't set advertising cookies ourselves. WordPress, the software that runs the Site, sets cookies only for people who log in to manage the Site.

Some parts of the Site load content from other companies, which may receive your IP address and may set their own cookies:

Google Fonts delivers the Site's typefaces. Google Privacy Policy.
Instagram (Meta) powers embedded Instagram posts in some articles. Instagram Privacy Policy.
Analytics providers, if used, as described above.

Our "Send this to a friend" share buttons are plain links. Nothing is sent to Facebook, X, or anyone else unless you click one.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The Site will still work, though embedded posts may not display. Our Site does not currently respond to "Do Not Track" browser signals, because there is no common standard for them. Because we don't sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising, there is nothing for a Global Privacy Control signal to opt you out of.

4. How we use information

To read and respond to your messages, tips, event submissions, and business inquiries.
To connect real estate inquiries with the right licensed professional (see below).
To send our newsletter, if you signed up. Every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link.
To run, secure, and improve the Site, and to prevent spam, fraud, and abuse.
To comply with the law and protect our rights.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. We share it only in these situations:

Real estate inquiries: when you submit the real estate form, we share your inquiry with Banyan Residential Group, the licensed Florida real estate brokerage we work with, so a licensed professional can follow up with you. Banyan handles your information under its own privacy policy.
Service providers: companies that help us run the Site and our business, such as our web host, email services, and newsletter provider (Mailchimp). They may use your information only to provide services to us.
Legal reasons: if required by law, subpoena, or court order, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of our visitors, our partners, us, or others.
Business changes: if our business is sold or reorganized, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.
With your permission: for example, if you ask us to introduce you to a restaurant or business.

6. How long we keep it

We keep form submissions and emails for as long as we need them to respond to you and run our business, and then delete them, unless the law requires us to keep them longer. Spam-protection data expires within 24 hours. Server logs are kept by our host according to its own schedule.

7. Your choices and rights

Access, correct, or delete: email us and we'll tell you what information we have about you, fix it, or delete it.
Unsubscribe: use the unsubscribe link in any newsletter, or email us.
Cookies: control them in your browser settings.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under your state's privacy law. We'll honor any request we're legally required to, and we won't treat you differently for making one. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request. If we deny your request, you can reply to appeal, and we'll explain our decision.

8. Children

The Site is meant for adults and is not directed to children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us information, contact us and we'll delete it.

9. Security

We use reasonable safeguards to protect the information you send us, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), spam protection on our forms, and restricted access to our systems. No website or email system is perfectly secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security.

10. Other websites and social media

Our articles link to restaurants, venues, event organizers, and other websites. We're not responsible for their privacy practices, so please review their policies. When you interact with us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or X, those platforms' policies apply.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we'll change the "Last updated" date above. If we make significant changes, we'll make them clear on the Site.

12. Contact us

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email joe@tampabayisawesome.com.

Additional information

Who we are

Suggested text: Our website address is: https://tampabayisawesome.com.

Comments

Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

Suggested text: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Suggested text: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited 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.

Who we share your data with

Suggested text: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

Suggested text: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

Suggested text: If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where your data is sent

Suggested text: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.