Privacy Policy

Insider Club accounts

When you create a Yooper Insider Club account, we collect your email address, display name, password, optional Michigan location, signup date and source, email-verification status, last-active time, newsletter choice, Yooper Points balance, and tier activity. WordPress handles account passwords in hashed form; we do not store them as readable text.

Reading activity and Yooper Points

On participating articles, we record the article identifier, reading-session times, required and active reading time, maximum reading progress, activity and heartbeat counts, completion attempts, completion status, and related points events. Active reading time advances only while the page is visible, focused, and recently active. We use this information to award points, enforce reward limits, measure aggregate article engagement, and detect automated or abusive activity.

For security and duplicate-prevention purposes, we create a one-way hashed identifier from an IP address, browser user-agent information, and a private site salt. We store the resulting hash rather than the underlying IP address and browser string in reading-session records. If a guest completes an eligible article before creating an account, the browser may temporarily store a signed claim token so that completion can be attached to the new account.

Optional email updates and service providers

Joining the Insider Club does not require subscribing to marketing email. If you choose email updates and verify your address, we send your email address and display name to MailerLite so we can deliver Yooper messages and manage unsubscribes. You can unsubscribe through any marketing email. MailerLite processes subscriber data under its own privacy policy.

We use Cloudflare Turnstile to protect signup, login, and verification-resend forms. Security challenge tokens and associated technical information are sent to Cloudflare for validation under Cloudflare’s privacy terms.

Insider Club retention, export, and erasure

Pending Insider Club accounts that are not email-verified are currently deleted after seven days. Verified account information and reward history are retained while the account is active or as reasonably needed to operate the program, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, and meet legal obligations.

You may request an export or erasure of your Insider Club personal data. The erasure process removes Insider Club profile metadata, associated personal points events and reading sessions, and requests removal from MailerLite when applicable. Aggregate article statistics that no longer identify you may remain. To make a request, contact keegan@yooperhub.com.

Last updated: June 9, 2026

Yooper (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website https://yooperhub.com. This page explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using the site, you agree to the practices described here.

Who we are

Our website address is https://yooperhub.com. We’re an independent news and entertainment site covering Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and beyond.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, along with the visitor’s IP address and browser user-agent string to help with spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (a “hash”) may be provided to the Gravatar service to check whether you use it. After your comment is approved, your profile picture is visible to the public alongside your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS), as visitors can download and extract that location data.

Cookies

If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies for your convenience, so you don’t have to re-enter them next time. These cookies last one year. If you have an account and log in, we set temporary cookies to store your login information and display preferences.

Advertising

We use Google AdSense to display ads on this site. Google and its partners use cookies — including the DoubleClick cookie — to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. This enables Google and its partners to show you relevant ads based on your interests.

• You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google’s Ads Settings at https://www.google.com/settings/ads.
• You can learn how Google uses data from sites that use its services at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
• For more options, visit https://www.aboutads.info to opt out of third-party vendor cookies for personalized advertising.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your visits to this site. We do not control these third-party cookies.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our site — which pages are popular, how people arrive, and general audience trends. Google Analytics collects information such as your IP address (often anonymized), device and browser type, and pages visited. This data helps us improve the site. You can opt out using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves exactly as if you had visited that other website, which may collect data about you, use cookies, embed third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that content.

Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal data. If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email. Anonymized data may be shared with the third-party services described above (Google AdSense, Google Analytics) as part of their normal operation.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely so we can recognize and approve follow-up comments automatically. For registered users, we store the personal information they provide in their profile. Users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except their username). Administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account or have left comments, you can request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, and you can request that we erase it. This does not include data we’re obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where your data is sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam-detection service.

Contact us

Questions about this privacy policy? Email us at keegan@yooperhub.com.