Privacy & cookie policy

Who we are

POLEMAD is a worldwide directory of pole dance studios. We are the data controller for the personal information described here. For any privacy question, or to exercise the rights below, email us at lili@polemad.com.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand which studios and cities people search for, so we can prioritise coverage. It records things like the pages you view, rough location (city-level, from your IP address), device and browser, and how you arrived. Google acts as our processor.

In the UK, EU and EEA these analytics cookies are off by default and only run if you accept them in the cookie banner; we use Google Consent Mode to enforce that. Elsewhere they are on by default. You can change your mind at any time (see Your choices).

Listing analytics

Separately from Google Analytics, POLEMAD counts two things itself, so we can show a studio’s owner how their listing is doing: how many times the listing page was viewed, and how many times each of its links was clicked (its website, Instagram, Facebook and email links, its “Book” button and “Directions”).

This counting is cookieless and needs no consent: it sets nothing on your device and stores no IP address and no identifier for you. We keep only a running per-day tally for each listing (a date, the listing, and a number) for about 35 days, then delete it. The totals are shown only to that studio’s verified owner, never published.

The same goes for POLEMAD LINKS pages. We count how many times a links page was opened and how many times each of its links and social icons was tapped. This counting is cookieless in the same way. We keep only a per-day tally for about 35 days (about 95 days when the owner has 90-day analytics), and the totals are shown only to the page’s owner. An owner’s own visits are not counted.

The same goes for brand pages. We count how many times a brand page was viewed and how many times its shop link, its code, and its stockists were tapped. This counting is cookieless in the same way. We keep only a per-day tally for about 95 days, and the totals are seen only by the POLEMAD team. Visits by the team and visits through a preview link are not counted.

Location

If you use “near me”, your browser asks your permission to share your location and we use it to sort studios by distance. It is used in your browser only. We do not store it or send it to our servers. Declining the prompt simply means you search by typing a place instead; nothing on the site requires it.

Hosting and security

The site is served by Cloudflare, which processes standard request data (such as your IP address) to route traffic, keep the site up and protect it from abuse. We also read the country Cloudflare derives from your IP for one purpose only: to decide whether to show you the cookie banner. If you use “report a problem” in the footer, submitting it sends technical diagnostics: your device, the page URL, and recent in-page errors. This is sent to us by email to help fix the issue.

Bot protection

We protect our sign-in and studio-claim forms with Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks that a request comes from a person rather than a bot. It runs invisibly (there is nothing to click) and to do that it reads signals from your browser and may set a token to remember that the check passed. Cloudflare processes this on our behalf; for the detail, see Cloudflare’s Turnstile Privacy Addendum.

Embedded Instagram posts

A diary entry can end with a few of that studio’s own Instagram posts, embedded so you can see them without leaving the page. Each one is loaded directly from Instagram, so opening that entry tells Meta you did: it receives your IP address and browser details, and it may set its own cookies, exactly as visiting Instagram would. If you are signed in to Instagram, it can link that to your account. We don’t receive any of it, and we store only the link to the post, never a copy of the photo or video. This happens on diary entries only; no other page embeds anything. See Instagram’s privacy policy for what Meta does with it.

Studio owners

Studio listings are built from public information (see how listings are verified). If you are an owner and get in touch to claim or correct your studio, we use the contact details you give us to handle that request and to reach you about your studio: the login code, and notices about the claim and the listing itself. We don’t use them for anything else unless you opt in below (see Marketing emails).

Emails your account and listing need

These are sent because of something you did, and they carry no unsubscribe link: stopping them would mean withholding the only notice you get about your own account or claim. They stop when the thing they are about is finished.

• Your login code, when you ask to sign in.
• Claim notices, when you start a claim, when we send your claim code, and when the claim is verified.
• Claim code expiry, when a claim code runs out unused. A claim code lasts 7 days. We write on the day it expires, then after one more week, then two, then four, and then not again. Finishing or abandoning the claim stops them sooner.
• Listing notices, when your published listing changes, and a monthly reminder if it is incomplete. The monthly one does carry an unsubscribe link.

Marketing emails

When you create an owner account you can tick a box to hear about new features. It’s off unless you tick it, and it’s separate from the emails your account and listing need. If you opt in we record that you did and when, as our basis for sending them. Every one has an unsubscribe link, and you can withdraw at any time by using it or emailing lili@polemad.com.

Cookies we use

Your choices and rights

You can accept or reject analytics cookies in the banner, and change that later by clearing this site’s cookies in your browser; the banner returns and you can choose again. Under UK/EU data protection law you also have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict our use of it, and to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these, email lili@polemad.com. You may also complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the ICO).

Links to other sites

Studio pages link out to booking providers, studio websites and social profiles. Once you follow one of those links you’re on someone else’s site, under their privacy policy, not ours.

Changes

If we change how we handle your information we’ll update this page and the “last updated” date above.