Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how information is collected and used by NY Science Standards Wiki.

Information We Collect

In short:

You can read the wiki without an account. For every visitor, Google Analytics (except on practice results pages) and the site's server record visits.
Practice needs no account. When you finish, your answers are saved for 14 days on a results page that anyone with its link can open, and written answers are graded by Anthropic's AI, Claude (see below).
If you have an account, the site keeps your account details, what you share, your votes and what you write on your teacher page.
The name you give when you share a resource is public: it is shown with the resource and on your teacher page, and it can appear in search engines.
Reviewers, named below, can see more than other users, including who voted for each resource and the domain of each voter's email address.
The site keeps most information with no set end date. The files of resources that aren't published or are removed are deleted after about 30 days.
We don't sell information about anyone, and the site shows no advertising. Outside the site, the services that handle information for it are GoDaddy (hosting and email), Google (Analytics and forms) and Anthropic (AI grading of practice answers).
To get a copy of what the site keeps about you, or to correct or remove something, email contact@nyssls.info.

The sections below explain each of these.

Accounts

Anyone can create a free account: you choose a user name and a password and give an email address. Your user name is public (see below), so choose one you're happy for anyone to see. If you asked for an account through our Google Form before sign-up opened, your answers are kept in Google Forms; email contact@nyssls.info to have them deleted.

Your user name is public, as on any wiki: it appears in the wiki's list of users and, if you edit a page, in the page's history and under "Page contributors" on that page.

Email Addresses

Your email address is used to:

confirm that the address is yours (the wiki emails you a link to click), which you need to do before you can share resources or vote (and, if you are allowed to edit, before you can edit the wiki's pages);
send you a new password if you ask for one;
tell you when a reviewer publishes, doesn't publish or removes a resource you shared, or decides on the text for your teacher page (when a resource isn't published or is removed, or a text is turned down or removed, the email includes the reviewer's message, and an email about a turned-down text also includes your text; nothing is sent when a resource is rejected as spam);
tell reviewers when something is waiting for review (reviewers only);
make the one-way code that allows one vote per email inbox (see Votes).

Emails come from noreply@nyssls.info and are sent through our hosting provider's mail server. Removing your email address from your account stops these emails, but you then can't share resources, vote or get a new password by email.

Other users can't email you through the site, and the site doesn't show your address to other users or to reviewers; reviewers see only the domain of a voter's address (see Votes). The site's owner, who is also one of the reviewers, can see email addresses in the site's database. To reach us, write to contact@nyssls.info rather than replying to these emails; we use your message and address to reply to you.

Sharing Teaching Resources

When you share a resource, the site keeps what you enter on the form (the standard, subject, title, description, type, performance levels and the name you want shown), the file you upload (PDF or Word) or the web address you link to, the date, your account, and a one-way code made from your email inbox (see Votes).

The name you enter is shown publicly with the resource wherever it is listed on the site and on your teacher page, so people can see who shared it, and it can appear in search engines. The form suggests the name you used last time, or the real name in your account preferences.

A reviewer checks every resource before it appears. A resource that is waiting for review or wasn't published is hidden from everyone except you and the reviewers; once a resource is removed, only reviewers can open it, and you see it only in your list of submissions. Reviewers can correct a resource's details, including the name shown with it, and you aren't emailed about corrections. You can see your submissions, and any message from a reviewer, on the Share a resource page.

Files are stored on the server outside the public part of the website and are sent only to logged-in users, through the site's download page. Downloaded files are named after the resource's title; the original file name is kept, and only reviewers see it. Files are passed on exactly as you uploaded them, so check yours for hidden information first: Word and PDF files can contain the author's name, comments, tracked changes and other hidden details, such as folder names from your computer. In Word for Windows, File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document finds and removes most of these; do this before you save a file as a PDF, too.

If you share a link, the website's name is shown publicly, and logged-in users who open the resource are taken to the full address, so link only to something you're happy for anyone with an account to open.

Teacher Pages

When a reviewer publishes your first resource, you get a public teacher page. It lists all of your published resources under the name on your most recently published one (resources shared under a different name still show that name), and it can appear in search engines. Its address contains your account number, which anyone can use to look up your account's user name, so sharing under initials or a nickname doesn't hide which account a resource came from. There is no setting to hide the page while any of your resources is published; it stops being public when none is.

You can add a short text about yourself on Edit your teacher page. A reviewer reads every new text before it appears and may correct it first. The site keeps only the latest versions: the text on your page, a newer text waiting for review, and the last text a reviewer turned down, with their message (kept until you send a new text or discard it). Older versions aren't kept.

You can take your text off your page at once by emptying the box and saving (this needs a confirmed email address; otherwise email contact@nyssls.info). If your page stops being public, your text is kept and comes back if one of your resources is published again; email contact@nyssls.info if you'd like it removed.

Votes

Anyone logged in with a confirmed email address can vote for published resources, except their own. Vote counts are public. Other users can't see who voted, but reviewers can (see below).

Each vote is stored with your account, the time and a one-way code made from your email inbox, not with the address itself. The code can't be turned back into your address, but it lets the site recognize the same inbox, so each inbox counts once for each resource. Accounts that share an inbox (a family or shared school address, for example) count as one voter, can't vote for resources shared from that inbox, and are told when another account on the inbox has voted for or shared a resource. Changing your address later doesn't change the code on votes and resources you already have.

To spot accounts made just to push one teacher's resources up, reviewers can see for each vote: the voter's user name, when they voted, when the account was created, the domain of its email address (the part after the @, such as gmail.com or a school district's domain) and how many votes the account has given, in total and to that teacher.

Reviewers can remove votes. A removed vote stays on record, so it can't be given again from that account or inbox, and the voter sees that a reviewer removed it. If an administrator blocks an account from the whole site with no end date, all its votes are removed too, until the block is lifted or shortened. While a resource is published and your email address is confirmed, you can take back your vote, unless a reviewer removed it.

Downloads

Anyone who is logged in can download resources; you don't need to confirm your email address to download. Visitors who aren't logged in can see each published resource's details but need an account to download it.

Apart from the server's standard logs (see Server Logs), the site keeps only a count of downloads for each resource, which only reviewers see. It doesn't record which account downloaded what.

Practice

Practice needs no account and never asks for a name.

Until you finish, your answers are kept only in your browser tab. Check and Finish send them to the site to be graded.
Most answers are graded by the site. Written answers, some drawings and some typed answers also go to Claude, an AI made by Anthropic, with the question and rating guide but no account or IP address. Anthropic deletes them within 30 days (longer only for safety reviews or when the law requires) and by default doesn't use them for training. The site keeps Claude's grades and feedback for 14 days, so the same answer isn't graded twice.
When you finish, your answers, grades, Claude's feedback and time spent are saved on a results page at an address that can't be guessed. The site doesn't add your name, account or IP address, but anyone with the link can open it, so send it only to your teacher (or to us, to report a grading mistake). It stops working after 14 days.
Please don't type your name or other personal details into answers.
Your IP address is used to count gradings and saved results for the site's limits, which prevent abuse. It isn't saved with your answers or sent to Anthropic, but the server's logs record it, as on every page.
Google Analytics runs on practice pages, except results pages.

What Is Public

Anyone can see, for each published resource, its title, the name it was shared under (linked to the teacher page), its standard, subject, type and performance levels, its description, its vote count, the file type and size or the linked website's name, and the date it was published. Published resource pages and public teacher pages are listed in the site's sitemap and can appear in search results on Google and other search engines.

When something is removed from the site, it disappears from the site's pages at once, but search engines can keep showing it for days or weeks.

Not shown publicly on the site: resources that aren't published, who voted, download counts, email addresses, original file names, reviewers' messages, and teacher page texts that are waiting for review or were turned down.

What Reviewers Can See

Today the reviewers are Conrad Richman (the site's owner and administrator), Caroline Leonard and Shirley Shameen, who are also listed on About Us. Besides what is described above, they can see every resource in any status; the user name, account creation date and number of published resources of the account behind each name; when a resource was shared and which reviewer decided on it; vote and download counts; original file names and full link addresses; and all teacher page texts waiting for review.

The site also keeps a log, which only reviewers and administrators can see, of who shared each resource, every review decision or correction and any message the reviewer wrote, each step in reviewing teacher page texts (but not the texts themselves), and the user names of accounts whose votes were removed or put back.

The site's owner looks after the server and can see all of the information described on this page.

Google Analytics and Cookies

Google Analytics runs on the site's pages for all visitors, except practice results pages. It records the address and title of each page viewed, including pages only you or the reviewers can see (such as a resource waiting for review) and words typed into the site's search boxes, as well as the browser and device type and the general region. It sets cookies that recognize your browser when you come back. This helps us understand how people use the site and improve it. Google provides the service under its own privacy policy and keeps the data for the period set in the site's Analytics settings. See also how Google uses information from sites that use its services. You can turn Google Analytics off in your browser with Google's opt-out add-on.

The wiki sets its own cookies when you log in, to keep you logged in: a session cookie, cookies with your user name and account number, and, if you choose "Keep me logged in", a longer-lasting login cookie.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser's settings. The site still works without Google Analytics cookies, but logging in needs the wiki's own cookies.

Server Logs

Like most websites, the site's server keeps standard logs of visits, such as IP addresses, browser types and the pages requested. The wiki software also keeps the IP address used for each edit, and for actions such as creating an account, for about 90 days, in a part of the database only the site's owner can reach. It also uses IP addresses to limit how often someone can search or use practice. The site, its database and uploaded files are hosted by GoDaddy in the United States.

The wiki also keeps a log of technical problems, such as emails that couldn't be delivered, on the server outside the public website. It can include the account number or email address involved.

How Long Information Is Kept

Published resources stay on the site until they are removed. When a reviewer doesn't publish a resource or removes one, its file is deleted from the server automatically 30 days after the decision (the clean-up runs once a week, so it can take a few days longer). Files rejected as spam are deleted at once. Practice results pages stop working after 14 days; they and Claude's grades and feedback are then deleted from the database (during school breaks this can take longer).

The details of resources that weren't published or were removed (title, description, the name and account they were shared from, and the reviewer's message) stay in the site's database, out of public view. Accounts, votes you haven't taken back, teacher page texts, the reviewers' log and the log of technical problems are also kept with no set end date. Server logs are kept according to the hosting account's settings, and backup copies of the site may contain information for some time after it is removed.

Copies, Corrections and Removal

To get a copy of the information the site keeps about your account, or to correct something or have it taken off the site, email contact@nyssls.info. This covers, for example, a resource you shared, the name shown with it, the text on your teacher page or information about your account. Tell us which resource, page or account it is about; writing from the email address on your account helps us confirm that it's yours. You don't need an account to ask us to take information about you or a student off the site. Taking something off the site doesn't delete the records described under How Long Information Is Kept.

Once a resource is shared, you can't edit or withdraw it yourself, but you can take back your votes (see Votes) and take the text off your teacher page. If you want to stop using the site, email us: the wiki software can't delete accounts, but we can take what you shared off the site, remove your email address and rename your account. Edits you made to the wiki's pages stay in their history under the new name.

Children

NY Science Standards Wiki is written for teachers and other educators. Anyone can read it and use practice, which needs no account or name, but children under 13 should not have an account. If you think a child under 13 has given us personal information, please email contact@nyssls.info so we can take it off the site.

Third-Party Links

NY Science Standards Wiki may contain links to external websites, including teaching resources shared as links. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third-party sites.

Changes to This Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated at any time. Revisions will be posted to this page, and the page's history shows earlier versions.

Contact

For questions regarding this privacy policy, please contact: contact@nyssls.info.

Last updated: 2026-11-09