Your reading and your choices.

Reading the journal

Free essays and public previews do not require an account. Requests pass through the hosting provider, which may process technical information to deliver and secure the site.

Optional readership analytics

If you choose to allow analytics, Google Analytics measures page views, reading activity, selected link clicks, checkout starts, and confirmed purchases. Purchase measurement uses an opaque transaction reference, the offer or public article identifier, currency, and the paid item amount after discounts, excluding tax and shipping. It does not include your name, email address, sign-in identifier, card details, raw URL queries, or private account content. It uses cookies to help produce readership reports. Advertising personalization is disabled in this integration. You can decline or change your choice using Analytics preferences at the bottom of a page. The journal remains available either way. Browser privacy signals are respected.

How Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Metricool also counts visits to public pages and country-level totals, without cookies. Account pages and correspondence are excluded. This integration sends the journal’s domain and the network information needed to handle the request; it does not send page paths, query strings, account cookies, personal details, or private content. Metricool uses the same optional analytics choice. Detailed article and purchase measurement remains in Google Analytics.

How Metricool handles visit measurement.

Email updates and marketing

Annual memberships and individual purchases include Golden Manifest email updates and occasional marketing unless the purchaser unchecks the email-updates option before checkout. The journal records the verified account email, current subscribed or unsubscribed status, the source of the preference, and the date it changed. Nonmembers may subscribe separately by sending the prepared request to updates@thegoldenmanifest.com. Anyone may unsubscribe at any time.

Subscriptions and reader support

Substack manages subscriptions, billing, and email delivery for posts published there. The journal’s separate Stripe checkout processes optional support payments and provides the support billing portal. Following these links takes you to those services, whose privacy policies apply to the information you give them.

Substack privacy policy · Stripe privacy policy.

Journal membership and purchases

Google and Firebase provide the journal’s reader sign-in. The journal receives a stable private account identifier and verified email address to associate purchases and access with the correct reader. Google’s profile photo is not imported. Stripe processes annual memberships and individual article purchases, stores payment details, and provides checkout and billing management. The journal stores Stripe customer, payment, invoice, subscription, refund, and dispute references needed to grant or withdraw access; it does not receive full card details.

Membership and download responses are private and are not stored in a shared cache. Paid PDF and Microsoft Word editions include the purchaser’s masked account email and a unique license reference. For download security, the journal records the account, article, file format, license reference, and download time for up to 90 days and applies reasonable retry limits. It does not record the contents of files saved on a reader’s device or monitor those files after download.

Member account pages follow the same optional analytics choice. If you allow analytics, the journal measures when protected article text is displayed and when a protected PDF or Word download is initiated, using only the public article identifier, access type, and file format. Names, email addresses, sign-in identifiers, and private account content are not sent to Google Analytics. Purchase reports require analytics consent and a server-verified paid receipt; visits and checkout clicks do not establish a completed purchase. Read-aloud does not use a microphone or upload recorded audio. On-device voices process speech locally. A voice labeled “online” may send article text to the reader’s browser or device provider for speech generation.

Google privacy policy · Firebase privacy information · Stripe privacy policy.

Reader correspondence and optional photos

You can currently send letters and follow-ups by email without creating a journal account. The email buttons open a draft in Gmail or your email app; nothing is sent until you send it there. Your email provider handles your message and any attachments. This website does not receive or track an email draft, confirm delivery, or import email into its review queue automatically.

The editor can see the sender’s email address and the information included in the message. Your email address is not published. You may choose your real name, a pseudonym, or Anonymous for public attribution. A photo or details in your writing may still identify you.

You can attach an optional photo to your email for consideration. Email attachments are not resized or stripped of metadata by this website. Include only information you want to share with the editor.

Say whether your message is private feedback or may be considered for publication. Every initial letter, editorial response, follow-up, public name, and photo requires J.C. Howard’s explicit approval and the writer’s permission before appearing publicly. If selected, the writer must approve the exact final text, name, and photo. Any revision to the text, public name, or photo requires renewed permission and approval. Email replies never publish themselves.

Previous on-site submissions remain in the journal’s private database, with stored photos kept private unless their exact submission was approved for publication. Existing account identifiers and contact details are not published or automatically linked to another sign-in service. Reader account tools are paused during the email-only period; contact the editor about an earlier submission or a withdrawal request. Previously approved public conversations remain available. We cannot remove copies other people already saved.

Reader text, account identifiers, names, contact information, and photo data are not sent to readership analytics. Correspondence does not subscribe you to emails, generate automatic notifications, or create a paid membership.

Contact

For questions about this journal’s privacy practices, email admin@thegoldenmanifest.com.