This FM Scout Privacy Policy (“Policy”) outlines the information that fmscout.com (“fmscout”, “we”, “us” or “our website”) gathers, how we use that information, and the options you have to access, correct, or delete such information.
At fmscout.com, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit our website, and how we safeguard your information. We never sell, rent, share, or otherwise disclose your personal information to third parties.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Members:
- Your account registration information (email address and username).
By default, your email address is private unless you opt to make it public (via your "Account Settings" area) or if you use your email address as your username (you really shouldn't do that).
We require a valid email address to send you a verification message so you can complete your registration. This ensures we avoid getting spam content originating from bots and guest visitors. Member-only generated content drastically improves the chances of getting quality content, while enabling us to better patrol the website from people violating our posting guidelines.
- Your settings from the "Account Settings" section of the website (such as your chosen timezone and communication preferences).
There are additional profile information you can fill out (e.g. profile picture, football club you support, country, birth date and gender), which are all optional and can be left empty.
Besides communication preferences (which are private and only relate to how you get notified about content you care about), additional profile information can be filled for sharing more details about yourself in public. You can change/remove these at any time.
- Your published fmscout data (uploaded files, articles, forum posts, comments).
This is user generated content that is publicly accessible (to our guests as well). Published fmscout content is not hidden behind a member-only wall and is free for all.
Customers:
We resell the Football Manager game series through our Nexway store. We also actively support the authors of our exclusive Football Manager tools (Genie Scout and FMS Editor) by promoting the purchase of the premium editions (in the form of a license number or file) via the Fastspring service.
- Our partner Voidu handles payment processing and stores the billing details required to verify your purchase. They provide fmscout with your email address and the game title of choice, which enables us to compare and match member emails in order to reward those members with the relevant "verified buyer" site badge.
You may refer to Voidu's privacy policy for more details.
- Fastspring is the payment handler of choice for both authors of our exclusive tools. We do not keep any customer data from that source on fmscout. However, the tool authors and their customer support team can access Fastspring's database whenever a customer needs a license regenerated (in case of loss or computer change).
You may refer to Fastspring's privacy policy for more details.
What else?
- We collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your device type (desktop, tablet or mobile), your IP address, browser type (such as Edge, Chrome or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site. We may see your geographic location based on the IP address.
Log files are mainly used for analyzing our website's performance and how our users enjoy our content. However, from time to time we have to deal with DDoS attacks (from ill-minded individuals) or naughty abusive activity (from people who don't value their membership). An IP ban/block could come in handy during such unfortunate occasions.
- We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site.
This could include only showing you a pop-up box once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features (such as the forums), or to keep you signed in to your member account without having to log in every time you access our website.
THIRD PARTY USE
- We use third party tracking services to collect aggregated and anonymized data about our website visitors.
Some of these advertisers may be served from our third party advertiser, you can view their privacy policy and cookie policy. You can manage your cookies here.
We use Google Analytics and Comscore to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics and Comscore gather information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of our website. The data might include usage and user stats. Relevant links: Google's privacy policy and Comscore’s privacy policy.
You may prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics by using the official GA Opt-Out browser add-on.
- We use third party advertisements on fmscout to support our site.
We publish Google AdSense interest-based advertisements on our website. These are tailored by Google to reflect your interests. To determine your interests, Google will track your behaviour on our website and on other websites across the web using cookies. You can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of the AdSense partner network cookie using those settings.
We use Avocet, OpenX, PulsePoint, Sovrn and Google Audiences to carry out retargeting and Header Bidding. These service use cookies for retargeting ads and targeting ads based on your interests. You can view the privacy policy of each of these service providers at Avocet Policy, OpenX Policy, PulsePoint Policy, Sovrn Policy and Google Policy.
Dealing with cookies or unwanted ads
You can choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into our forums or your member account.
Deleting cookies does not mean you are permanently opted out of any advertising program. Unless you have settings that disallow cookies, the next time you visit a site running the advertisements, a new cookie will be added.
You can't stop getting ads online, but you can remove some unwanted ads. You can also stop getting ads that are based on your interests and info (IBA). Please refer to Google's relevant support article on how to block certain ads.
DATA SUBJECT RIGHTS
- You have the right to update your personal and account information via the Account Settings area.
To change your username and/or email address you need to make a request to Stam via private message or live chat message on fmscout.com.
- You may also request the deletion of a certain forum post or topic you no longer want to remain online, as well as request deletion of your member account as a whole. Deleting your account doesn't mean your published content gets removed with it.
You may email Stam with any such requests, and we will respond within thirty (30) days (usually within 24 hours).
- Customers may request to update or delete their Account Information by contacting the relevant people in charge (Nexway customer service in case of FM purchases, or our software authors in case of GS/FMSE licenses).
CONTACT INFORMATION
We're FM Scout. A fan site community dedicated to the Football Manager game series. Online since late 2004.
Essentially, fmscout.com is run by Stam throughout the years, the founder and mastermind behind almost everything you see here. There's also a small team of moderators who patrol fmscout for the community, volunteering their time helping out.
Should you have any questions, please send a private message to Stam or to one of the guys in the moderation team. Alternatively, you may use the contact form or send an email to stam @ fmscout.com.
