Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 12, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes what information DormTea collects, why, and how it's handled. DormTea is built around anonymity — this policy explains exactly what that does and doesn't mean.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following information directly from you:

• Your .edu email address, used to verify student status and as your sign-in identifier
• Your campus/university, either inferred from your email domain or as you enter it when suggesting a dorm
• Ratings, tags, and comments you submit for a dorm
• Photos you upload
• Which reviews you've upvoted
• Dorm suggestions you submit, including any optional note
• Ambassador applications you submit on the Ambassadors page (your name, email, school, your answer to a short question, and an optional resume), which are emailed to the DormTea team and are not stored in the site's database or shown publicly
• If you arrive through a club or Ambassador link (an address starting dormtea.com/r/), a short code identifying that link, and — if you then create an account — that code on your account (see sections 2, 4 and 5)

2. Information Collected Automatically

Like most web services, our hosting provider's infrastructure logs standard technical data (such as IP address and request timing) for security and abuse-prevention purposes — for example, to enforce rate limits on verification-code requests.

We also keep our own basic, aggregate usage counts: for each day, the number of page views broken down by the general category of the site that referred you (for example "a search engine," "Reddit," or "direct"), and the number of new accounts and reviews. These are stored only as running totals — there is no per-visitor record, no identifier, no full referring URL or search term — and daily counts older than 90 days are deleted automatically. For each club or Ambassador link we also keep one running total of visits (counted once per browser per 30 days) and a daily count of those visits that is deleted after 90 days, again with no per-visitor record and no identifier. Apart from the referral cookie described in section 5, we do not use analytics or advertising cookies, and we do not use any third-party analytics service.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information above to:

• Verify you're a real student before letting you rate, upload photos, or vote
• Enforce one review per student per dorm, and let you edit your own review
• Prevent duplicate voting and abuse of the Service
• Operate and improve the Service generally

4. Anonymity — What It Means

Your email address and account are never displayed publicly or shown alongside your reviews, photos, or votes — those always appear as "Anonymous Student." Anonymity applies to what other users and visitors see; it doesn't mean the data isn't stored internally, since we need to tie a review to an account to enforce the one-review-per-dorm rule described above. The same goes for the referral code on an account: it is internal, never displayed on the site, and used only to count how many visits, accounts and reviews came through a link. We share those counts with a club or Ambassador only as totals, and only once a link has at least 5 reviews, so a total cannot point to one person. We never share which account wrote which review.

5. Cookies

We use a session cookie to keep you signed in, a short-lived cookie that holds your place while you sign in with Google or Microsoft, and (for site administrators only) a separate admin session cookie. These are essential to the Service functioning and are not used for tracking or advertising. If you open a club or Ambassador link (dormtea.com/r/...), we also set a 30-day cookie named rmd_ref that holds only that link's short code. It is used for one purpose: to record, if you create an account in that time, which link you came through. It is not used to follow you around the site or on other sites, and you can delete it in your browser settings at any time. If we add advertising or analytics in the future, this section will be updated to disclose any additional cookies before they're used.

6. Third-Party Service Providers

We use a small number of third-party providers to operate DormTea, each of which processes data on our behalf under its own security and privacy commitments:

• Supabase — database and file storage
• Render — application hosting
• Resend — delivery of verification code emails
• Google and Microsoft — only if you choose "Continue with Google" or "Continue with Microsoft" to sign in. We ask for nothing but your verified email address, and we only accept addresses ending in .edu

7. Advertising

DormTea does not currently display third-party advertising or share personal information with ad networks. If that changes, this Privacy Policy and our CA Notice at Collection will be updated before any such advertising goes live, and our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page will describe how to opt out.

8. Data Retention

We retain account and content data for as long as your account remains active, or as needed to operate the Service. You can delete your own reviews at any time while signed in. To request deletion of your account or any other data, email dormtea@gmail.com — account deletion is currently handled manually rather than through a self-service control.

9. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to know what personal information we hold about you, request its deletion or correction, or opt out of its sale or sharing. California residents specifically should see our CA Notice at Collection and Do Not Sell My Personal Information pages. To exercise any of these rights, email dormtea@gmail.com.

10. Children's Privacy

DormTea is intended for college students and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the Service evolves. Material changes will update the "Last updated" date above.

12. Contact

For privacy questions or requests, including the requests described above, email dormtea@gmail.com.