Last updated: 27 July 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how BiFiles collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when you visit or participate in the BiFiles Forum at https://www.bifiles.com/forum/.
The BiFiles Forum is a publicly readable, editor-managed discussion space. BiFiles creates and maintains the main discussion topics. Visitors may read without an account. Registered members need an account to post replies and use certain member features.
Who is responsible for your data?
The data controller for the BiFiles Forum is:
Henri Mulder
Operating the BiFiles Forum under the BiFiles name
Country of establishment: Germany
Email: support@bifiles.com
Send privacy and data-protection requests to support@bifiles.com. BiFiles may ask for information needed to verify your identity before responding to a request involving an account or personal data.
What this policy covers
This policy covers personal data that BiFiles processes through forum registration, profiles, replies, subscriptions, mentions, reports, moderation, login activity, security features, and forum-related emails.
Other parts of the BiFiles Network may provide additional or separate privacy information. External websites and services linked from the Forum follow their own privacy policies.
Information we collect
BiFiles may collect and process the following information, depending on how you use the Forum:
- Account information: username, email address, password hash, registration date, email-confirmation status, account role, and account status.
- Profile information: display name, avatar, biography, location, website, and other optional profile details that you choose to provide.
- Forum contributions: replies, edits, likes, mentions, reports, subscription choices, and other actions associated with your account.
- Technical information: IP address, browser user-agent information, device or browser details, timestamps, login and security events, and information needed to maintain read and unread status.
- Communication information: messages sent to BiFiles support, moderation reports, account requests, privacy requests, and responses to administrative emails.
- Security and moderation information: spam indicators, flood-control information, content reports, moderation notes, and actions taken to protect the Forum.
Public forum content and sensitive information
Anyone can read the public BiFiles Forum. Visitors may see your replies, username, display name, avatar, posting dates, and any profile information that you make public.
Search engines and other third parties may index, cache, quote, archive, copy, or capture public content in screenshots. BiFiles cannot control copies that third parties create outside the Forum.
Because BiFiles focuses on bisexual identity and community, information that you voluntarily publish may reveal your sexual orientation, relationships, health, identity, location, or other sensitive aspects of your life.
By publishing this information in a publicly readable reply or profile, you intentionally make it public. Where the GDPR applies, BiFiles may process special-category data that you clearly make public under Article 9(2)(e), together with an applicable lawful basis under Article 6.
Do not publish anything that you do not want to become public. Never share another person’s private, identifying, medical, sexual, or contact information without clear permission.
The Forum does not display your email address, password hash, IP address, private support messages, or private moderation reports publicly.
How we use personal data
BiFiles may use personal data to:
- create, confirm, secure, and maintain forum accounts;
- allow members to post and edit replies;
- display public profiles and forum contributions;
- send registration, password-reset, subscription, reply, and mention notifications;
- remember read and unread discussions;
- process reports and enforce the Community Guidelines and Forum Rules;
- detect spam, automated abuse, harassment, account misuse, and security threats;
- respond to support, privacy, safety, and moderation requests;
- maintain backups and preserve the integrity and continuity of discussions;
- investigate technical problems and improve Forum operation;
- comply with legal obligations and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Legal bases for processing
Where the GDPR or similar data-protection law applies, BiFiles relies on one or more of the following legal bases:
- Contract or steps taken at your request: where processing is necessary to create and operate your Forum account, provide requested member features, and administer your participation under the Forum Terms.
- Legitimate interests: where BiFiles needs to operate, moderate, secure, maintain, improve, and protect the Forum, prevent abuse, preserve discussion continuity, or defend legal rights.
- Consent: where you actively choose an optional email subscription, notification, or other consent-based feature. You may withdraw consent at any time.
- Legal obligations: where BiFiles must process or retain information to comply with applicable law or a valid legal request.
When legitimate interests provide the legal basis, BiFiles considers the purpose of the processing, its necessity, and its possible effect on the rights and interests of Forum users.
For special-category data, including information about sexual orientation, BiFiles also needs an applicable condition under Article 9 of the GDPR. This may include information that you have clearly and deliberately made public through a public reply or profile.
Registration and email confirmation
Registration requires a valid email address. The Forum sends a confirmation or password-setting email to the address you provide. You must complete the required confirmation process before using all account features.
Provide an email address that you control and keep your login credentials secure. Do not share your password with other people.
Subscriptions, mentions, and notifications
You may choose to subscribe to a forum discussion or receive notifications when another member mentions your username. Some subscriptions may require you to click a confirmation link sent by email.
Manage subscription and mention preferences through your Forum profile. You may unsubscribe from optional email notifications at any time.
BiFiles may still send essential account, security, moderation, email-confirmation, or password-reset messages when necessary.
Cookies and local browser storage
The Forum uses essential cookies or similar browser storage to provide login sessions, account security, navigation, and forum functionality.
WordPress and wpForo cookies or local storage may help the Forum:
- keep you signed in;
- remember login and display preferences;
- confirm that your browser accepts cookies;
- remember which forums and topics you have visited;
- display read and unread discussions correctly;
- support security, spam prevention, and account protection.
Some cookies expire when you close your browser. Others remain for a limited period so the Forum can remember selected preferences or login choices. Logging out removes or invalidates relevant login cookies.
Blocking essential cookies may prevent registration, login, read and unread tracking, or other Forum features from working correctly.
Spam prevention, security, and moderation
Automated spam, flood-control, security, and abuse-detection tools may check Forum submissions and account activity. These tools may analyse content, links, posting frequency, IP addresses, browser information, and account history.
Automated tools may flag or temporarily block suspicious activity. BiFiles does not use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on Forum users.
A human administrator directs and reviews important moderation decisions when appropriate.
Members may report replies that appear unsafe, abusive, misleading, off-topic, or contrary to the Forum Rules. BiFiles treats reports and the identity of the reporting person as private moderation information and does not display them publicly.
Avatars and Gravatar
If BiFiles enables Gravatar support, the Forum may send an anonymised hash created from your email address to Gravatar to determine whether that address connects to a Gravatar image.
When Gravatar finds a matching image, the Forum may display it publicly beside your profile or replies.
Automattic operates Gravatar under its own privacy policy. You do not need to create a Gravatar profile to participate in the Forum.
Links and embedded content
Forum pages or replies may contain links or embedded content from other websites, including videos, images, social posts, or articles.
Embedded content may behave as though you visited the external website directly. The external provider may collect information, use cookies, apply tracking technologies, or record your interaction with the embedded content.
BiFiles does not control the privacy or data practices of external websites and services.
Who may receive personal data?
The following recipients or recipient categories may access personal data where necessary:
- authorised BiFiles administrators and moderators who need access for support, safety, technical administration, or moderation;
- website-hosting, database, backup, email-delivery, security, and spam-protection providers acting on behalf of BiFiles;
- WordPress and wpForo components needed to operate the Forum;
- Gravatar and other external services when you use or load those services;
- professional advisers where BiFiles needs advice or assistance with legal, security, accounting, or compliance matters;
- courts, regulators, law-enforcement authorities, or other public bodies where the law requires disclosure or where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
BiFiles does not disclose private account information merely because another member asks for it.
BiFiles does not sell personal data to advertisers.
International data processing
Some service providers may process personal data outside your country of residence or outside the European Economic Area.
Where data-protection law requires transfer safeguards, BiFiles relies on an applicable adequacy decision, approved contractual safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses, or another lawful transfer mechanism.
Contact support@bifiles.com for more information about relevant provider categories and international-transfer safeguards.
How long we retain information
BiFiles generally keeps account information while your account remains active. After account closure, BiFiles may retain limited information for a reasonable period where security, moderation, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, or legal compliance requires it.
Public replies and their basic metadata may remain available while the relevant discussion remains published. Keeping this material helps preserve the meaning, structure, and continuity of conversations.
BiFiles keeps subscription information until you unsubscribe, delete your account, or the Forum otherwise removes the subscription.
Security logs, moderation reports, and related records remain available only for as long as BiFiles reasonably needs them for security, abuse prevention, legal obligations, or dispute handling.
Backups may temporarily contain information that BiFiles has removed from the live Forum. The applicable backup-retention cycle eventually overwrites or deletes that information.
Deleting your account
You may use an available account-deletion tool or ask BiFiles to delete your Forum account.
After account deletion, BiFiles may remove or anonymise personal profile details. Existing public replies may remain visible under an anonymous or removed-user identity when retaining them preserves the structure and meaning of a discussion.
Account deletion cannot remove third-party search caches, archives, quotations, screenshots, or copies made outside BiFiles’ control.
You may separately request a review of a specific reply by contacting support@bifiles.com. BiFiles considers each request individually and takes account of privacy, safety, applicable law, public interest, freedom of expression, and the rights of other participants.
Your data-protection rights
Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have the right to:
- ask whether BiFiles processes personal data about you;
- request access to a copy of your personal data;
- correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
- request deletion of personal data in applicable circumstances;
- request restriction of processing;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests;
- receive certain information in a portable format;
- withdraw consent where consent provides the legal basis;
- complain to an appropriate data-protection supervisory authority.
These rights are not absolute. Applicable law may allow or require BiFiles to limit or refuse a request where continued processing protects another person’s rights, supports security or legal claims, complies with a legal obligation, or serves another lawful purpose.
To exercise a privacy right, email support@bifiles.com. Provide enough information to identify the relevant account or content without sending unnecessary sensitive information.
You may lodge a complaint with a competent data-protection supervisory authority, including an authority in the European Union country where you live, work, or believe a data-protection infringement occurred.
Keeping your information safe
BiFiles uses reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect Forum data against unauthorised access, alteration, loss, misuse, and disclosure.
No website or online service can guarantee complete security.
Help protect your privacy by using a unique password, limiting personal details in public replies, avoiding precise location information, and reporting suspicious activity.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
BiFiles may update this Privacy Policy when Forum features, service providers, legal requirements, or data practices change.
BiFiles will publish the latest version on this page and update the revision date at the top.
When a change materially affects registered members, BiFiles may also provide an appropriate notice through the Forum or by email.
Contact
Send questions, privacy requests, account requests, or concerns about personal data to:
BiFiles Forum
Controller: Henri Mulder
Country of establishment: Germany
Email: support@bifiles.com
Forum: https://www.bifiles.com/forum/