What this site knows about you
Short version: no account, no email, no name, and nothing that identifies you. The longer version is below, written plainly rather than in legal language.
Last updated 27 September 2026
What is collected
If you take the Card Collector Compass and leave the consent box ticked, one anonymous record is saved when you finish.
That record contains exactly this, and nothing else:
| Your ratings | The number you selected for each of the 30 statements, from 1 to 5 |
| Your reasons for collecting | Which of the six you selected, the order you put them in, and which facets you ticked for your top three. All fixed options; none accept typing |
| What you collect | The six description questions: category, sports, games, what you look for, the shape of your collection, and your state. All fixed options; none accept typing |
| Your scale scores | The averages calculated from your answers, recalculated on the server from the ratings above |
| A consistency check | Two numbers worked out from the ratings above: how much your answers varied, and which scales had their oppositely-worded statements answered the same way. It is used to tell a carefully answered response from a rushed one when the data is analysed. It adds nothing new about you, because it is calculated from answers already in this list |
| A random identifier | Generated on the server, unrelated to you, used only so rows are distinct |
| A timestamp | When the record was saved |
| Instrument version and duration | Which version you took, and roughly how long it took |
The purpose is stated in the methodology: the instrument has not been validated, and validation requires responses from real collectors. That is what this data is for, and it is the only thing it is used for.
It is never sold, never shared with advertisers, and never used to target anyone with anything.
What is never collected
- No name. The collector name you choose is used to print your report in your browser. It is never sent to the server and never stored.
- No email address. There is nowhere to enter one.
- No account. There is no sign-up, no login, and no password.
- No IP address stored with your answers. The server that stores your response does not record it. Your browser necessarily reveals it in transit to whoever hosts the site, exactly as it does on every website you visit, which is covered in Section 6.
- No free text. Every question is a fixed set of options. There is no box to type in, which means there is nothing you could accidentally reveal.
- No cookies, and no tracking pixels or advertising scripts of any kind. Your progress is held in your browser's own local storage, which stays on your device and is never transmitted.
- No link between sessions. If you take it twice, those two records cannot be connected to each other.
What stays on your device
While you are taking the assessment, your progress is saved in your own browser so you can stop and come back. That includes your collector name, your answers so far, and your finished report.
This never leaves your device. It is not sent anywhere. You can clear it at any time using the Clear from this browser button on your report, or by clearing your browser data as you normally would. That button clears the copy on your device. It does not and cannot remove a research record you contributed, for the reason given in Section 5.
Your choice
The consent box on the introduction screen is ticked by default, and you can untick it.
If you untick it, nothing at all is saved to the server. You still take the whole assessment and get the same report. Nothing is withheld, and you are not asked again.
It is ticked by default because the data is not identifiable, which is the standard practice for research data of this kind, and because a validation sample that most people opt out of is not a validation sample. If that reasoning does not sit well with you, untick it. That is a legitimate choice and it costs you nothing.
Why a contributed response cannot be deleted
This is the honest trade-off of genuine anonymity, and it is worth understanding before you decide.
Because nothing identifying is stored, there is no way to find your record. Not by you, and not by me. If you asked me tomorrow to delete your response, I would have no way to tell which one it was.
That is not a gap in the system. It is the point of it. A service that can delete your data on request is a service that can find your data, which means it knows which rows are yours. This one does not, and cannot.
The practical consequence: decide before you press submit, not after. If you would rather not contribute, untick the box on the way in.
Other companies involved
Being complete about this, because "we don't collect anything" is rarely the whole story for any website.
| Who | What they see |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosts this site and stores the anonymous responses. Like any web host, their servers process the request your browser makes, which includes your IP address, in order to deliver the page and to block attacks. That is standard infrastructure logging and it is not something I store, query, or connect to your answers. |
| Google Fonts | The site loads two typefaces from Google's font service, so your browser makes a request to them when a page loads. |
| Links out | Links to Instagram, eBay, or anywhere else take you to those companies, and their own terms and tracking apply once you are there. Nothing about your assessment goes with you. |
There is no advertising network, no analytics product that follows you between sites, and no data broker anywhere in this.
Your report
Your report is generated in your browser and handed to you. It is not stored on any server, which means it cannot be recovered, re-sent, or looked up later.
Your report stays in this browser, so closing the tab and coming back on the same device will still show it. It is not stored anywhere else and there is no link to it, so it will not follow you to another device and clearing your browser data removes it. Save it as a PDF if you want to keep it.
Questions and changes
This site is run by one person in Phoenix, Arizona. If something here is unclear or you think it is wrong, say so and I will fix it.
If this policy changes in a way that affects what is collected, the date at the top changes and the change is described here. I will not quietly start collecting more.
Adults 18 and over only. This site is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect anything from them.