Privacy Policy
The short version: no account is needed to browse, analytics is off unless you allow it, ads are requested without personalization consent, and the only personal data anywhere in the system is the email address of players who sign in to use the Addon Creator.
Analytics — consent-gated, off by default
ESO Decoded uses Google Analytics, loaded with Google Consent Mode defaults set to denied. Until you press
Allow on the consent banner, no analytics cookies are set and no analytics data is collected. If you do allow
it, measurement is aggregate and IP-anonymized — we look at which pages get read, not at who reads them. Your choice is
stored only in your own browser (a localStorage key that is never transmitted to us); clear your browser
storage to be asked again. Google describes its side of this processing in
How Google uses
information from sites that use its services.
Advertising
Pages carry Google AdSense, which keeps the site free. The same Consent Mode defaults keep ad_storage,
ad_user_data, and ad_personalization denied, and ESO Decoded never grants them — so from our
side, ads are requested without personalization consent. Google serves and measures those ads under its own
privacy policy. If the site ever carries
a sponsored or affiliate link, it will be labeled at the placement, as the Disclaimer says.
First-party measurement — anonymous by design
To learn which sections actually help players, without profiling anyone, the site runs two small beacons of our own. An attention beacon reports the page path, scroll depth, reading time, and which sections were on screen, tagged only with a random per-visit id — it stores no IP address and no browser fingerprint. A seen-vs-clicked counter for buttons and links counts sessions with a one-way hash that rotates every day; the raw connection data behind it is not stored and the hash cannot be reversed to identify a person. Separately, the server logs page fetches by known AI crawlers and assistants (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and similar) so we know what AI systems read — that log covers bots, not human visitors.
The Addon Creator sign-in
Each addon generation costs real compute, so the Addon Creator is gated behind Google Sign-In. Google verifies your identity and tells us exactly one thing: your email address. It is kept in a signed cookie in your browser for up to 7 days and used solely to apply fair-use rate limits — there is no password, no account database, and no server-side record of you. Logging out deletes the cookie. One caution: prompts you submit and the addons generated from them can be published to the public addon library, so don't put personal information in a prompt.
Cookies & storage, the complete list
eso_sess— the signed sign-in cookie, set only if you use the Addon Creator; expires within 7 days.eso_consent— your analytics choice, kept in localStorage on your device and never sent to us.- Google Analytics cookies — set only after you press Allow.
- Google ad-serving requests — made with personalization consent denied, as described above.
The feedback button loads a small third-party widget; if you submit feedback, only what you type is sent.
Hosting & server logs
The site is served from a standard cloud host which, like every web server, processes IP addresses in transit to deliver pages and block abuse. We do not build visitor profiles from server logs. The set data itself contains no personal information — see the methodology for where it comes from.
Your choices & contact
Decline the consent banner and browse without analytics; sign out to drop the one cookie; block third-party scripts and the reference pages still work. For questions, complaints, or deletion requests, contact us at hello@esodecoded.com — material changes to this policy will be posted on this page. Related: Terms of Service and Disclaimer.
FAQ
Does ESO Decoded sell or share my data?
No. There is nothing to sell: browsing needs no account, there is no email list, and the only personal data we ever hold — the email address of players who sign in to use the Addon Creator — is used for rate limiting and never shared or sold.
Can I use the site with analytics completely off?
Yes. Analytics is off by default and only starts if you press Allow on the consent banner. Decline it (or just ignore it) and no analytics cookies are set; every page works exactly the same.
What do you learn about me if I sign in with Google?
Only your email address. It lives in a signed cookie in your own browser for up to 7 days, there is no password and no server-side account record, and logging out deletes it.
How do I get data about me deleted?
Email hello@esodecoded.com. Because almost nothing is stored, deletion usually means logging out (which removes the one sign-in cookie) — but we will confirm and remove anything tied to your email.