Privacy policy

When you open a public page, our server records the visit in our database. For each visitor we store:

• the first page you opened, the page that sent you (referrer) and the time;
• your browser’s user-agent text (browser and device type);
• your country, as reported by Cloudflare;
• the campaign tags (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content) in the link you arrived through, if it had any;
• each page you open afterwards (its path and the time), and numbers worked out from that: pages viewed, time on site and an engagement score.

We do not store your IP address in this log, and we do not store your name or email.

To tell your visits apart from other people’s, the site sets one cookie, ml_session_id: a random identifier with no personal information in it. It is first-party (set by mowerlab.com), is not readable by scripts on the page, and lasts 30 days. Clear it in your browser settings and you become a new visitor.

The log leaves out requests that do not look like a person in a browser (crawlers, scanners and scripts), and it leaves out the site owner’s own visits while signed in to the admin. We do not currently delete visitor-log rows on a schedule.

We have no way to find your row from your name or email. If you want to see or remove it, the only handle is the cookie value in your own browser.

The site also uses Google Analytics 4, run by Google. Its script loads after the page has finished loading. Google Analytics sets its own cookies in your browser and sends Google information about your visit, such as the page, your browser and device, approximate location and the page that referred you. We use it to count visitors and see which pages people use. Google’s own policies describe what it does with that data.

The site does not show a cookie-consent banner. If you do not want Google Analytics to see your visits, you can install Google’s browser opt-out add-on or block the script in your browser. The site works without it.

We keep two more small logs so we can show manufacturers how many readers are interested in their models.

• “Visit manufacturer” clicks. We store the time, the model, the brand, the website name only of the page you went to, the page you clicked from (no query string), your ml_session_id value if you have one, and the campaign source and name copied from your first visit. The link sends you on with plain tags (utm_source=mowerlab and similar). It carries no affiliate code or click identifier and earns us nothing.
• Video plays. When you press play on a video we store the time, the YouTube video id, whether it is MowerLab’s, a creator’s or a manufacturer’s, the page it was on, the model and your ml_session_id value if you have one. A repeat click on the same video within five minutes is counted once.

Neither log stores your IP address or user agent. Neither is recorded while you are signed in as the site owner.

Videos are click-to-load. Before you press play, the page shows only a thumbnail that our own server delivers; your browser makes no request to YouTube. When you press play, the page loads YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player (youtube-nocookie.com), and YouTube, which is Google, receives your request and applies its own policies. If you open the video on YouTube instead, the same applies.

The form at /videos/submit collects:

• the video link and title, the mower or mowers it covers, where it mentions MowerLab, and how you got the mower;
• your channel name, and your channel link if you give one;
• your email address, and an optional note to us.

These go into our database, where only the site owner can read them. We use your email only to reply about that video. We never publish it and never share it. If we approve the video, we publish the video, your channel name and channel link (if given) and how you got the mower, as the page says. The note and your email are not published.

To limit abuse, our server briefly remembers your connection’s address in memory to count submissions per hour. It is not written to the database or any file, and is lost when the server restarts. We keep submissions until we delete them, and we do so whenever you ask (see section 9).

Some mower pages offer a signup so we can email you when we publish a field test of that model. If you use it:

• You enter your email address and may tick a box to hear about other new field tests. Your address goes to our email provider, Buttondown, which stores it and sends the emails. MowerLab does not keep your address in its own database.
• We label your signup with the model you asked about (a tag such as mower:model-name) and, if you ticked the box, a general tag. That is how we know how many readers are waiting for each model.
• Buttondown first sends you a confirmation email. You are on the list only after you click its link (double opt-in). Every email we send includes a way to unsubscribe.
• Our server passes your connection’s IP address to Buttondown and to Cloudflare so they can check the signup is genuine. We do not store it ourselves.
• A Cloudflare Turnstile check on the form keeps out bots. Its script loads only when you click into the email box, and Cloudflare applies its own privacy terms to it.

We may tell a manufacturer how many readers are waiting for its model. We never give a manufacturer or anyone else your address or any list of names. We do not sell or rent email addresses.

The site owner signs in to an admin area. That sets a sign-in cookie (mowerlab-admin-session) in the owner’s browser for up to 12 hours. Visitors never receive it. Admin pages are not part of the visitor log.

• Cloudflare sits in front of mowerlab.com, so it handles every request and can see visitors’ IP addresses. It also runs the signup check.
• Google for Google Analytics, and for YouTube if you press play.
• Buttondown for email signups.
• The server that hosts the site. Our web server is not set up to keep its own request log; we have not checked what the hosting company itself retains.

We do not show ads, sell personal data or use affiliate links. We share data otherwise only if the law requires it.

• Unsubscribe from our emails with the link in any of them.
• Delete or block cookies in your browser; the site keeps working.
• Ask us to delete a video submission or your email address, or to tell you what we hold about you, by emailing [email protected].

The site is aimed at adults who are shopping for a mower; we do not knowingly collect data from children. See also our editorial policy.