Privacy Policy

Who we are

Sam's Minecraft Servers ("we", "us") is a small, independently run group of Minecraft servers and their websites: sams.tj, hardcore.tj, skyblock.tj, superflat.tj, earth.tj and mods.tj, together with the forum at sams.tj/forum and our Discord. This policy covers all of them.

We are not affiliated with Mojang, Microsoft, Google or Patreon.

What we collect when you play

• Your Minecraft name and account ID (UUID), which every Minecraft server receives.
• Your IP address, used to connect you, to enforce bans and to stop cheating and abuse.
• What happens in the game: when you join and leave, play time, chat messages and commands, deaths and kills, your claims, homes and bases, Vote Points and what you spend them on, and votes you cast on server-listing sites.
• What you send us: in-game mail, bug reports, ban appeals, ratings and notes about other players, and questions you ask our guide bot.

What we collect on the websites

• Web server logs: IP address, the page requested, the time and your browser's description. These are deleted after 14 days.
• A sign-in cookie, set only when you sign in, so you stay signed in across our sites for up to 30 days. Signing out removes it. We use no advertising or analytics cookies.
• Settings kept in your own browser (local storage), such as your language choice and whether music plays. They stay on your device.
• Clicks on our advertising links: we record which link was clicked, with a scrambled code made from your IP address instead of the address itself, to learn which ads bring new players.

Signing in with Discord, Google, Patreon or the forum

You can link these accounts to your Minecraft name to sign in to our websites and receive linking rewards. We only use the sign-in to identify you, and we store:

• Google: your Google account ID number, nothing else. We ask Google only for your basic profile so that it can confirm who you are; we do not store your name, email address or picture, and we have no access to your Gmail, Drive or any other Google data.
• Patreon: your Patreon account ID, whether you are currently a paying patron of our own Patreon page and your tier amount, and a renewal key Patreon gives us so we can re-check that once a day. This is how patron perks are switched on and off. We cannot see your payment details or your pledges to other creators.
• Discord: your Discord user ID.
• The forum: your forum user number and name.

Each is stored together with the Minecraft name it is linked to. Information we receive from Google is used only to sign you in, in line with the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. We never sell it, use it for advertising, or share it with anyone.

Payments

Donations and pledges are handled by Patreon, Ko-fi or Stripe. They process your payment under their own privacy policies; we never see or store card or bank details. We only learn that a payment was made and which Minecraft name it is for.

The forum

The forum keeps your forum account, your posts and private messages, and the IP address each post was made from, as forum software normally does. Posts in public sections can be read by anyone.

What is public

Running a multiplayer server means some things are visible to others:

• Your Minecraft name, skin and in-game chat are seen by other players. Chat is also relayed to our Discord.
• Our stats pages and leaderboards show names with play time, deaths, kills, votes and Vote Points.
• Our in-game newspaper, gallery and announcements can mention players by name or show them in screenshots.
• We broadcast a live view of the servers on Twitch, so what you do in the game may appear on the stream.

How we use it

• To run the servers and websites and remember your progress.
• To give out rewards, Vote Points and patron perks.
• To keep the game fair and safe: moderation, bans, and finding cheating or abuse.
• To fix bugs and decide what to improve.

Our guide bot and the daily bot diaries use an AI model that runs on our own server. Your questions are not sent to an outside AI company.

Who we share it with

We do not sell personal information and we show no third-party ads. Some outside services are part of how the sites work:

• Cloudflare carries the traffic for some of our sites and our domain names.
• Discord receives relayed chat and bot messages; Twitch carries the live stream.
• Google Fonts provides the pixel font, and mc-heads.net provides player head pictures from Minecraft names, so your browser contacts them when a page loads.
• Server-listing sites tell us when you vote for us.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it.

How long we keep it

Web server logs are deleted after 14 days. Game data, chat history and linked accounts are kept while the servers run, because they are your progress, your history and our moderation records. Backups are kept for a limited time and replaced by newer ones.

Your choices

• You can ask us to unlink an account or to delete the information we hold about you. Ask through our Discord or the forum; we will confirm the request comes from the account's owner. Records needed to enforce a ban may be kept.
• You can withdraw our access at any time in your Google account, your Patreon settings ("Connected apps") or your Discord settings ("Authorized Apps").
• You can sign out of the websites at any time, which removes the sign-in cookie.

Children

Many Minecraft players are young. We do not ask for real names, ages, addresses, phone numbers or email addresses to play. If you are under 13, ask a parent or guardian before linking any outside account. A parent or guardian who wants a child's information removed can contact us as described above.

Security

Our servers are protected by access controls, encrypted connections (HTTPS) and automatic blocking of attackers. No system is perfectly secure, so please do not reuse a password from another service on the forum.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update this page and the date at the top. Important changes will also be announced on Discord.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your information: ask on our Discord or post on the forum.