Last updated August 13, 2026
This explains what information Foreword collects, how it is used, and the choices you have over it.
You can browse and read published stories without an account. You only sign in if you want to share your own story, save stories, or react to one. Anything you publish becomes public and can be read by anyone on the internet. Your story stays a private draft until you choose to publish it, and you can switch it back to private at any time.
One thing to know before you publish: once a story is public, search engines and other people can copy or save it. Unpublishing or deleting removes it from Foreword right away, but we cannot take back copies that others made while it was public.
Your story is yours, and so is the level of detail. Share as much or as little as feels right. Before publishing, it is worth a quick read to check you are comfortable with everything in it becoming public, including details that could identify you or the people you mention.
We do not ask for or store your date of birth, home address, or medical records.
To run the service: show your story, power search and filters, keep you signed in, and let you save and react. We use your email only to reply if you contact us. We do not sell your information or use it for advertising.
We do not sell or rent your information, ever. We would only share it if the law required us to, or if it were genuinely needed to keep someone safe.
We rely on a small set of trusted services to operate: Google for sign in, Neon for the database, Vercel for hosting, and Resend for sending email. They only handle your data to do those jobs for us. These services store data in the United States, so if you use Foreword from somewhere else, your information travels there.
We use one essential cookie to keep you signed in. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. Since we do not track you, there is nothing to opt out of.
You can edit or unpublish your story at any time. You can delete your account, which permanently removes your story, saved stories, and reactions. If you filed a report, it stays on record but is no longer linked to you. A message you sent through the contact form also stays, with your name and email address on it, because it was never linked to your account in the first place. Ask us and we will delete it. If you would like a copy of the data we hold about you, ask through the contact form and we will send it to you.
We keep your content until you delete it. We take daily backups for safety and keep them for about 90 days, so anything you delete also disappears from our backups within that time.
A message you send through the contact form is kept after we have dealt with it, so that we can still answer questions later about what was asked and what we did. It is not linked to your account, so deleting your account does not remove it. If you want your message deleted, ask us and we will do it.
Your data is stored with reputable providers, connections to Foreword are encrypted, and the database can only be reached by the very small number of people who run Foreword. No online service can promise perfect security, but we keep the surface small: we collect little, we run no trackers, and we do not share your data with anyone beyond the services listed above.
Stories often mention products, resources, and other websites. Those sites have their own privacy practices, and this policy does not cover them.
Foreword is meant for adults. You must be 18 or older to share a story. Reading is open to anyone.
If we update this policy, we will change the date at the top. If a change meaningfully affects your privacy, we will say so on the site, not just quietly edit this page.
Foreword is not medical advice. See our community guidelines.
Questions about this policy or your data? Reach us through the contact form here. A real person reads every message.