1. Who we are

Spill the Feed is run by Apollo Minds in Melbourne, Victoria. When this policy says "we" or "us", that's who it means. We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

2. What we collect

Only what you give us when you use one of these features, plus a little technical data to stop abuse.

• Reviews (spills). Your name, email address, your verdict, and anything else you add: the dish, price per head, tags, comment and longer write-up. Your name is shown with your review. Your email is used to confirm the review and is never shown on the site. After you confirm, we ask if you'd like to join the newsletter waitlist. You're only added if you say yes.
• Newsletter waitlist. Your email address and which page you joined from. The newsletter hasn't launched yet.
• Suggest a place. The place you picked. What you type in the search box is sent to Google to find matching places.
• Feedback. Your message, the reason you picked, the page you were on and your browser type. Your name, email and a screenshot only if you add them.
• Anti-abuse data. When you review or suggest a place, we store a one-way hash of your IP address and of your browser details. We can't turn a hash back into your IP. We use it to enforce one review per person per place, rate-limit suggestions and spot fake reviews.

We don't ask for your name, phone number, location or payment details. You don't need an account to use the site.

3. How we use it

• To send the link that confirms your review, and to show the review once it's confirmed.
• To tell you when the newsletter launches, if you joined the waitlist. We won't send you anything else.
• To read and act on your feedback, and to reply if you asked us to.
• To keep reviews and rankings honest by blocking bots, duplicates and review bursts.

4. What we never do

• We don't sell or rent your personal information.
• We don't run advertising trackers or build profiles of you.
• We don't show your email address to anyone.

5. Cookies and browser storage

We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. Your browser keeps two small notes for us, whether you've joined the newsletter waitlist and whether you closed the newsletter tray, so we don't keep asking. Cloudflare Turnstile, our bot check on forms, may set its own cookie to tell humans from bots.

6. Who we share it with

We use a handful of services to run the site. They only get the data they need to do their job:

• Vercel hosts the site in Sydney and keeps short-lived server logs, which include IP addresses.
• Neon hosts our database, where reviews, newsletter sign-ups and suggestions are stored.
• Resend sends the email that confirms your review.
• Cloudflare runs the Turnstile bot check on our forms.
• Linear is where feedback, including any screenshot, is stored and tracked.
• Google provides place details, ratings, maps and photos. Photos and map links load from Google, so Google sees your IP address when they do. Creator thumbnails load from TikTok and Instagram in the same way.

Some of these providers store or process data outside Australia, mainly in the United States. We choose providers that protect data to a standard comparable to the Australian Privacy Principles. We'll also share information if the law requires it.

7. Food creators

Rankings are built from public posts by Melbourne food creators. We collect those public posts, transcribe the videos and use AI to summarise what was said about each venue. We show the creator's public handle and link back to the original post. If you're a creator and want your posts left out, see the terms or email arnold@spillthefeed.com.au.

8. How long we keep it

Reviews stay up while the place is listed, and your email stays linked to them. Waitlist emails stay until you ask to come off the list or unsubscribe once the newsletter starts. Feedback stays until it's dealt with and no longer useful. A review you never confirm never goes live. You can ask us to delete any of it sooner.

9. Your choices

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, correct it, or delete it, including any review you wrote. Email arnold@spillthefeed.com.au from the address you used and we'll sort it within 30 days. To leave the newsletter waitlist, email us. Once the newsletter starts, every issue will carry an unsubscribe link.

If you think we've mishandled your information, tell us first and we'll respond within 30 days. If you're not happy with the answer, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

10. Security

Data is encrypted in transit, stored with providers that encrypt it at rest, and only we can access it. IP addresses are stored as one-way hashes. No system is perfectly secure, so if something does go wrong we'll tell affected people and the regulator when the law requires it.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change what we collect or how we use it, we'll update this page and the date at the top.