Our commitment to your privacy. How we care for your stories, data, and inbox.
When you join the newsletter or submit a story, we collect the information you provide directly: your name, email, and anything you choose to share in the story form. We don't collect more than what's needed to run the community.
Email addresses are used to send updates about new stories and the community, nothing else. Story submissions are read by the Started Somewhere team to decide what to feature, and are never sold or shared with third parties.
If you submit a story, you choose how you're credited: full name, first name only, or anonymous. We'll always confirm with you before anything goes live.
You retain full ownership, moral rights, and copyright over your story and reflections. By submitting to Started Somewhere, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to format, lightly edit for editorial clarity and typography, and publish your piece across our website, newsletter, and social channels. You remain completely free to republish, adapt, or share your story anywhere else.
We do not use tracking cookies, advertising pixels, or third-party behavioral trackers. We use browser local storage (localStorage) strictly for essential reader preferences — such as remembering your Night Reading Mode choice and preserving an unbroken reading flow between visits. No data stored locally is ever tracked, sold, or shared with advertisers.
Your circumstances and comfort matter more than an archive. If you ever wish to modify your attribution (such as switching from your full name to a first name or pseudonym), remove specific excerpts, or permanently unpublish and erase your story or reader note from our live site, simply email hello@startedsomewhere.in. We will honor your request promptly and without question.
We use third-party services to run parts of this site, for example, form handling and email delivery. These providers process your data only to perform that specific function, under their own privacy policies.
Questions about this policy, or a request to update or remove your data, can be sent to hello@startedsomewhere.in.
This page may be updated as the community grows. Material changes will be reflected here with an updated date.
Last updated: November 2026 · Plainspoken editorial terms