Privacy Policy

Last updated: 9 September 2026

I like honesty in dating and I like it here too. This page is the unsexy bit of the site. It still matters. It tells you what I collect, why I collect it, what I do with it, and what you can ask me to do about it.

This policy is written in plain English on purpose. It is still meant to be a real privacy notice under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. It is not a joke dressed up as law. If something here does not match how the site actually works, the law cares about what I actually do, so I will keep this page in line with the site.

I am not your solicitor. If you need legal advice about your own situation, get it from someone qualified. If I add a newsletter tool, a shop, or a new analytics platform later, I will update this.

Who I am

The site is nikkiessex.com.
The person behind it is Nikki Essex.

For UK data protection purposes I am the data controller for personal data collected through this site.

Contact for privacy questions: use the form on the Contact page, and put “Privacy” in the first line so I do not treat it like a general letter.

If a dedicated privacy email is added later, that address should be treated as a privacy contact as well.

What this policy covers

It covers personal data collected when you:

• visit nikkiessex.com
• use the contact form
• subscribe to email updates, if I offer them
• comment, if I enable comments
• interact with cookies or similar tech on the site

It does not cover other websites I link to. Their rules are theirs.

What I collect

I only want what I need. I am not building a secret dossier on you. That would be a grim hobby.

Depending on how you use the site, I may collect:

1. Identity and contact details

Name, email address, and anything you choose to put in a message. If you write to me as “unsigned”, I will still have whatever technical data the form and host record.

2. Message content

Whatever you type. Do not send me other people’s private information unless you have a good reason and the right to do it.

3. Technical data

IP address, browser type, device type, general location at city or region level if the host or analytics tool provides it, pages viewed, dates and times of visits, referring site.

4. Cookie and analytics data

See the cookies section below.

5. Newsletter data, if you subscribe

Email address, name if you give one, subscription status, and basic engagement data such as whether an email was opened or a link was clicked, if the email provider records that.

I do not knowingly collect special category data (health, sex life, politics, religion, and similar) as a routine practice. If you put that kind of thing in a contact message, treat it as you choosing to send it. I will still handle it carefully and only for the reason you sent it.

I do not use this site to profile you for advertising unless I say so here later and ask for the right permission.

How I collect it

• Directly from you, when you submit a form or subscribe
• Automatically, through the website host, security tools, and any analytics or cookie tools I use
• From email providers, if you write to me or join a list

Why I use it, and the legal basis

UK law wants a lawful basis, not just a vibe. These are mine.

To reply to you

If you contact me, I use your details to read the message and respond.
Lawful basis: legitimate interests, and contract if you are asking me to do a defined piece of work.

To run and protect the site

Hosting, security, backups, fixing errors, stopping spam and abuse.
Lawful basis: legitimate interests, and legal obligation where I must keep certain logs.

To understand how the site is used

Page views, popular pieces, broken pages. I want to know whether anyone is actually reading, not who you are in real life.
Lawful basis: legitimate interests for privacy-respecting analytics. Consent, where the tool requires a cookie or similar that is not strictly necessary.

To send email updates, if you asked for them

Lawful basis: consent. You can withdraw it whenever you like.

To keep records I may need

For example a record that I answered a privacy request.
Lawful basis: legal obligation and legitimate interests.

Legitimate interests, in plain terms: I have a real reason that does not override your rights. Running a small independent site, answering readers, keeping the lights on, and not getting wrecked by bots counts. Selling a list of reader emails to a random supplements brand does not. I will not do that.

Cookies and similar tech

The site may use:

• Strictly necessary cookies or similar tech. These make the site work. Security, load balancing, remembering a cookie banner choice. These do not require consent.
• Analytics cookies or similar tech. These help me see aggregate use of the site. If I use a tool that sets non-essential cookies, I will ask before those cookies run, and you can say no.
• Embedded content. If a post includes an embedded video, newsletter box, or similar, that third party may set its own cookies. Their policy applies to that part.

You can also control cookies in your browser. Blocking some cookies can make bits of the site sulk.

If I use Google Analytics, a similar analytics tool, or an email platform, I will name the live tools on this page when they are live. Until a tool is named here, treat this as the rule set those tools must fit.

Who I share data with

I do not sell your personal data. I do not swap it for exposure. I do not think that is cute.

I may share data with people who help me run the site, and only as needed:

• Website hosting and content platform providers
• Email and contact-form processors
• Analytics providers
• Security and anti-spam services
• Professional advisers if I genuinely need them, for example an accountant or solicitor
• Authorities if the law requires it

Those processors are only allowed to use the data on my instructions, for their service, not as a free extra mailing list.

If a future version of the site uses advertising networks, I will say so clearly and update the lawful basis. That is not happening by stealth.

Where data lives

Some providers store or access data outside the UK. If that happens, I will use a lawful transfer mechanism, such as the UK’s approved addendum to standard contractual clauses, or a provider covered by a UK adequacy decision.

I will not send your data on holiday to a random server because it was cheaper.

How long I keep it

Not forever, unless the law says I must.

• Contact messages: usually up to 24 months after the last meaningful reply, unless the conversation is still live or I need it longer for a dispute, legal claim, or safety issue
• Newsletter records: for as long as you stay subscribed, then a short period after unsubscribe so I can prove I stopped
• Server and security logs: usually 12 months or whatever the host keeps as standard, whichever is shorter unless I need a log to deal with abuse
• Analytics data: in aggregate form where I can, and only as long as the tool’s settings require for the site to be useful

When I no longer need it, I delete it or irreversibly anonymise it.

Your rights

If I hold personal data about you, you can ask to:

• access it
• correct it
• delete it
• restrict how I use it
• receive a copy in a portable format, where that right applies
• object to processing based on legitimate interests
• withdraw consent where consent was the basis
• complain to the ICO

I may need to confirm who you are before I do some of that. That is not me being difficult. It is me not handing your data to someone pretending to be you.

I will answer without undue delay and within one month, unless the request is complex, in which case UK law lets me take longer and I will tell you.

You can withdraw consent as easily as you gave it. Unsubscribe links in emails count. A message that says “stop emailing me” also counts.

Children

This site is written for adults. I do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 13. If you believe I have, tell me and I will delete it.

Security

I use reasonable technical and organisational measures: HTTPS, restricted access, reputable processors, passwords that are not the name of the site. No website is invincible. If there is a breach that is likely to put your rights at risk, I will handle it as UK law requires, including telling you and the ICO where that duty applies.

What you should not send me

Do not use the contact form as a locker for passports, bank details, medical files, or someone else’s secrets. I cannot keep a form submission as safe as a solicitor’s office.

Changes

If I change this policy in a meaningful way, I will update the date at the top. If the change is substantial, I will put a short note on the site. Keep reading this page if you care. I will not hide a new tracking tool under a poem.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how I handle your data, tell me first and give me a chance to fix it.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

ico.org.uk
0303 123 1113

The short version, if you scrolled

I run nikkiessex.com. I collect what I need to publish the site, stop abuse, understand what is being read, and answer you when you write. I do not sell your data. You can ask what I hold, ask me to correct it, ask me to delete it where the law allows, and tell me to stop emailing me. If I get this wrong, the ICO exists for a reason.

If you came here from a piece about honesty, good. This is the same principle with less lipstick.