Who we are
We are the North Carolina chapter of Horror Writers Association. We welcome writers, readers, editors, publishers, screenwriters, filmmakers, comics authors, artists, illustrators, and anyone else who seeks to celebrate the genre we all love. Check out the membership options on horror.org if you’re interested in joining HWA.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
This site employs a WordPress plugin to strip all EXIF data from any images uploaded to it. This means location data, camera settings, timestamps, and any other information specific to the user or device who created the image, added by default when photos are taken on cellphones and some cameras, will be removed. This is done to protect your privacy as a member of HWA NC or someone who attends or supports our events.
Cookies
Comments are rarely if ever allowed on posts or pages on this site. If comments are enabled on a post, page, or other entry type, if you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. This site employs security-related WordPress plugins to limit the use of cookies to extend user logins as a means of protecting HWA NC members’ user accounts.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Posts, pages, and other entry types on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Because this embedded content is delivered by another site, HWA NC has no control over what they do with your information. We do, however, take steps to limit the use of embedded content where possible.
Who we share your data with
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email. The administrators of hwanc.org may view information related to your account, such as your email address, in the course of approving or deactivating accounts and other day-to-day administrative functions.
HWA NC does not collect your information for any purpose other than the technical requirements of using this site and, if you choose to subscribe, distributing our HWA NC Events notices via email. That newsletter is hosted on beehiiv, and is subject to whatever privacy policies beehiiv may choose to implement site-wide without our knowledge or consent.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where your data is sent
Visitor comments are checked through an automated spam detection service.
Login pages employ Cloudflare technologies to verify that logins are performed by humans and not bots or other agentic or automated sources.
There are security measures employed beyond these, also, designed to limit or prevent activity by bots and other agentic or automated interactions with the site, but these are generally invisible to humans and are not used to collect any information.