Privacy policy

Effective 13 November 2026

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The short version

We collect only what's needed to match you and get a gift to your door.
Your santa sees your wish-list answers and, after matching, your mailing address. They see your Bluesky handle only if you say yes.
Your nice-lister never learns who you are.
Your address and relayed messages are deleted when the exchange ends.
We don't sell anything, show ads, or track you on this website.

Who we are

Secret Santa HQ is a small, volunteer-run gift exchange that runs entirely through Bluesky direct messages, using three bot accounts: @atmo.gift (sign-up and questions), @santa.atmo.gift (messages to and from your santa) and @nicelister.atmo.gift (messages to and from the person you're gifting). It is not affiliated with Bluesky.

Questions or requests about your data: DM @atmo.gift and say "privacy".

What we collect

What	Why
Your Bluesky account identifier (DID) and handle	To know who signed up and to send you DMs.
Your questionnaire answers: country, whether you'll ship abroad, budget tier, things you love, things to avoid, sizes, a note to your santa, who you'd like to swap with, and your sharing choices	To match you and help your santa pick a gift. If you edit an answer we keep the earlier version until the exchange ends, so moderation decisions stay tied to the exact text reviewed.
Your mailing address	So your santa can send your gift. Stored separately from everything else.
Messages you send to `@santa.atmo.gift` or `@nicelister.atmo.gift`	To pass them on, to retry if the other person can't be reached yet, and so we can act on abuse reports.
Whether you follow `@atmo.gift`, and who you follow and are followed by on Bluesky	To follow you back so DMs work, and to respect your "strangers" or "mutuals" choice when matching. Follow lists are public on Bluesky; we read them, we don't change them.
Technical records: message IDs, delivery status, timestamps	To avoid answering the same message twice and to deliver messages reliably.

We don't collect your email, phone number, payment details or location beyond the country and address you give us.

Who sees what

Your santa (the person gifting you) sees your wish-list answers — things you love, things to avoid, sizes and your note — and, only after matching, your mailing address. They see your Bluesky handle only if you answered yes to sharing it. Your santa's identity is never revealed to you.
Your nice-lister (the person you're gifting) never sees your handle, answers or address. Messages you send reach them from @santa.atmo.gift, not from you.
Moderation. Before you can be matched, your typed answers (not your address) are checked by an automated classifier, which receives only the answer text — no handle or account identifier. Anything it flags is reviewed by a human organizer. Organizers may also read relayed messages if someone reports a problem.
Organizers can access the bot's database to run the exchange and fix problems. We keep that group as small as possible.
Bluesky. All conversations happen in Bluesky DMs, which are processed by Bluesky's chat service under Bluesky's privacy policy. Bluesky DMs are not end-to-end encrypted.

We don't share your data with anyone else, except where the law requires it.

Public stats

After an exchange closes we may publish anonymized statistics — for example, how many people took part, which countries, and budget tiers. Your "things you love" answer is included only if you said yes, and never with your name, handle or account identifier. Addresses, notes, sizes and messages are never published.

Where your data is stored

The bot and its data are hosted in the United States and are subject to United States law. If you take part from another country, your information — including your answers and mailing address — is transferred to and stored in the US. By signing up, you agree to that transfer.

How long we keep it

Draft answers (a questionnaire you haven't finished) are deleted when you submit.
Mailing addresses are deleted when the exchange ends.
Relayed messages are deleted when the exchange ends.
Everything else linked to your account is deleted or anonymized when the exchange ends, once the public stats are prepared.

Your choices

See or change your answers: DM @atmo.gift "status" to see where things stand, or "edit" to change your answers (until signups close).
Leave: DM "leave" before signups close and you won't be matched.
Delete your data: DM @atmo.gift "privacy" and ask us to delete it. If you've already been matched, we'll find your santa a new match first so nobody is left without a gift.
Stop all contact: unfollow or block the bot accounts at any time.

Age

You must be 18 or older to take part, since the exchange involves sharing a mailing address with someone you may not know.

This website

This site is a static page hosted on wisp.place. It sets no cookies and contains no analytics or trackers. The hosting service may keep standard server logs, and fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address under Google's privacy policy.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll update the date above and post about it from @atmo.gift before the change applies to an exchange you're in.