Privacy Policy

This policy applies to thebestin.show and any services operated under the BestInShow name (the "Service"). It does not apply to third-party sites we link to or embed from (such as YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram), which have their own privacy policies.

Account information

We use Auth0 to handle sign-in. When you create an account, we receive your email address, display name, and a unique account identifier from Auth0. We do not store passwords.

Profile information

Information you choose to add to your owner profile, such as your name, location, organization, bio, social links, and profile photo. This information is public by default.

Content you create

• Animal profiles, photos, links to external media, articles, and comments
• Pedigree relationships (sire/dam, descendants)
• Tags you apply to photos and links
• Reports you file about other content

Public content is visible to anyone on the internet, including search engines, unless we have disabled crawling.

Activity and follows

We record which owners, animals, and communities you follow, what content you save, and the public activity you generate (posts, comments, tags).

Technical information

• IP address and basic request metadata (used for rate limiting and abuse prevention)
• Session cookies needed to keep you logged in

We use Google Analytics to collect aggregated usage data such as page views, browser type, and device information. This data is processed by Google, not stored by us directly. See Google's Privacy Policy for details on how Google handles this data.

Email preferences

Your notification preferences (comments, tags, ancestry updates, general announcements) and any email suppression status from bounces or complaints.

• Operate the Service: build your profile, show your feed, render pedigrees, deliver search results
• Send transactional emails (comments, tags, ancestry updates) based on your notification preferences
• Send announcements to owners who have opted in to general email
• Prevent spam and abuse (Cloudflare Turnstile, rate limiting, account-age requirements)
• Review reports and moderate content
• Maintain security and investigate suspicious activity
• Improve the platform through aggregated, non-identifying analytics

We do not use your behavioral data to drive an engagement-optimizing algorithm. See our Transparency page for full details on how content is sorted and surfaced.

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only as needed to operate the Service:

• Auth0 (Okta): handles account creation, sign-in, and password storage
• Amazon Web Services: hosting, database, file storage, and email delivery (Amazon SES)
• Cloudflare: content delivery, DDoS protection, and bot detection (Turnstile)
• Google: Google AdSense (third-party advertising) and Google Analytics (aggregate usage measurement)
• Embedded media providers: when you embed YouTube, TikTok, or similar links, those sites receive a request from your browser

Public content you post is, by design, visible to anyone who visits the site and may be indexed by search engines.

We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies:

• Session cookies: required to keep you signed in and protect against cross-site request forgery
• Preference cookies: remember your dark-mode and display preferences
• Analytics: Google Analytics sets cookies to measure aggregate usage
• Advertising: Google AdSense may set cookies to serve and measure ads (see Advertising below)

Most browsers let you block or delete cookies. Blocking required cookies will prevent you from staying signed in.

We display third-party ads through Google AdSense to support the cost of running the Service. Google may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. You can learn about and opt out of personalized advertising at adssettings.google.com and aboutads.info/choices.

Ads never affect search ranking, feed ordering, or which content appears in galleries.

• Access and edit: view and update your profile, animals, photos, links, and articles at any time from your account
• Delete: remove any content you have created, and delete your account from your account settings
• Unsubscribe: turn off any notification category from your email preferences, or use the unsubscribe link in any email
• Untag: remove yourself or your animals from any photo or link
• Request a copy: contact us if you want an export of your data

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws such as the GDPR (EU/UK) or CCPA/CPRA (California), including the right to request access, correction, deletion, or portability of your personal information, and to object to certain processing. To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below.

BestInShow is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us and we will delete it.

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we remove or anonymize your personal information within a reasonable period, except where we are required to retain it for legal or security reasons (for example, to comply with takedown obligations or preserve records of abuse).

Public content you contributed to pedigrees may remain visible in aggregated form (for example, an animal's ancestry record) even after deletion, since other owners rely on it.

We use HTTPS, modern authentication via Auth0, server-side rate limiting, and bot detection to protect the Service. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. To report a security issue, see our security.txt.

We may update this policy as the Service evolves. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and, when appropriate, notify users by email or in-app message.

Questions or requests about this policy? Reach us through our support page or email info@thebestin.show.