Published October 26, 2026. Note: this policy has not been attorney-reviewed. Licensed North Carolina attorney review is pending and is the standing launch gate before accounts, uploads, or LIVE open publicly. Account features described here (checkbox acceptance, sessions, consent receipts, uploads and archives) are specified designs, not live yet; where a section applies only at launch, it says so.

Privacy Policy — The Yard (yards.fyi)

Operator: RodwellHQ LLC ("RodwellHQ," "we," "us") Service: The Yard at yards.fyi (the "Service," the "Yard") Last updated: October 26, 2026

The short version, in plain language

The Yard is a Black-centered HBCU community platform, open to everyone — nobody is rejected. You can browse everything without an account. When accounts open, they are for people 18 and older, and you accept these terms by checking a box after reading them — not by just continuing to browse.

We collect as little as we can run the site on. We never sell your personal information. We never scrape your Facebook, Google, or any other account for your posts, photos, videos, friends, or history. We never run advertising trackers. Your votes are tied to your device, not your name. What you post in public is public. Files you upload are stored encrypted, and access to stored user files is restricted to RodwellHQ. We store user files only from what users upload, plus the account and operational data listed in the table below — nothing else, and nothing taken from your other accounts.

Everything below is written in plain language, except the storage section, which uses general terms on purpose: it tells you what protections apply and who can access what, without publishing an infrastructure map. Nothing else in this policy is hidden.

1. The data table — what we hold, why, where, and for how long

This table is the whole inventory in one place. If a kind of data is not in this table, we do not collect it. Rows marked (at launch) describe the account system that is specified but not live yet. Rows marked (live today) describe what the site actually holds right now.

Data	Purpose	Storage	Retention	Protection
Account and identity data (at launch): name, email address, and profile picture from the sign-in provider you choose (Google, Facebook, or an emailed code); the provider's subject ID mapped to one internal user ID; school, band, section, and era if you choose to rep them	Run your account, show your profile, and let you sign in on more than one device	The site's account database, access restricted to RodwellHQ	For the life of your account; deleted on the clocks in Section 10	We never receive or store your password — the sign-in provider handles that. Provider access tokens are discarded after your profile is fetched. Your email address is never shown publicly
Session data (at launch): one strictly functional sign-in cookie holding a random token; the server stores only a scrambled hash of that token	Keep you signed in, and let you end any session from your devices list	The site's account database (token hashes only)	Sliding sessions up to 90 days, with an absolute 90-day ceiling; ended on sign-out or per-device revoke	Only the hash is stored, never the token itself. A stolen database row alone cannot sign anyone in
Talk and Wall posts, and reports (live today): the nickname you choose and the content you write; reports filed against posts, with the reason	Run the public conversation, show the Wall, and moderate	The site's database	Posts stay live while posted; removed when deleted or hidden by moderation. Moderation and appeal records are kept as the exception named in Section 10	Posts are public by your choice — that is the point of the board. Posts are stored in the site database and are not end-to-end encrypted; do not post anything you need kept private
Votes and picks (live today): your choice, the poll or slate it belongs to, and a one-way hash of a device token	Count one vote per device where the rules say so, and show tallies	The site's database	Kept with the poll record; tallies are shown without names	Votes are never tied to your name and never sold or shown with your identity. Percentages stay hidden until a poll reaches 10 votes where the rules say so
Uploaded photos and videos (when uploads open): only the files you upload, plus the serving and archive copies described in Section 5	Show your content on the site and restore it if a serving copy is lost	Serving copies in RodwellHQ's managed cloud infrastructure; encrypted archive copies in a separate encrypted archive lane; a second independent encrypted backup copy as a redundancy lane (see Section 5)	While your content is live; deleted on the clocks in Section 10 (live systems within 14 days, all copies including every archive part within 30 days)	Encrypted at rest. Archive copies are encrypted before transfer, with the keys held outside the storage provider, so the provider cannot read the content. Access to stored user files is restricted to RodwellHQ
Device and usage data (live today): your picked school, Morning Drop wake-up hour, and dismissed banners (kept in your browser's own local storage); security and protection logs (request paths, user-agents, timestamps, and bot-protection scores and reasons)	Preferences: remember your choices on your own device. Logs: protect the site from bots and abuse	Preferences: your device only — they never leave your device unless you choose otherwise. Logs: the site's protection log store	Preferences: until you clear them. Logs: a limited protection window only, then deleted	Logs are used for protection only — never for advertising, ranking, or sponsor reporting. Logs are never sold
Consent receipts (at launch): your user ID, the Terms and Policy versions you accepted plus a SHA-256 hash of the exact texts, the timestamp, the flow/screen, and the locale; minimal technical proof (a truncated IP address or IP hash plus a coarse user-agent family — never a full fingerprint)	Prove what you were shown, what you accepted, and when	A segregated, append-only receipt store	For the life of your account plus 3 years after deletion — this is a named exception to deletion, disclosed here on purpose, because deleting our only proof of consent would disarm both sides in a dispute	Append-only: receipts are never edited. You can view and download your receipts from your profile at any time
Moderation, appeal, and legal-hold records (live today for reports; full ladder at launch): the rule broken, the content or conduct behind it, strike history, and appeal outcomes	Enforce the rules fairly, answer appeals, and meet legal duties	The site's moderation store	Kept while needed for safety, appeals, and any legal hold, each with its own destruction date; never used for advertising or ranking	Access restricted to RodwellHQ and the named second human who reviews ban-length decisions (see Terms)

Site content that is not personal data about you: public game scores, news headlines, Morning Drop items, school profiles, and band clips are site content, not personal data.

2. How the site works, in plain language

Browsing is free and account-free. You can read scores, news, homecoming dates, school pages, band clips, the Wall, and the Morning Drop with no account and no sign-in. Browsing collects nothing about you except the protection logs in the table above.
Accounts (at launch) are how you get a profile, a devices list, and uploads. Accounts are for people 18 and older. You create one by passing the age screen, signing in, and then completing the assent step: the Terms and this Policy are shown in full in separate panes, the create button stays disabled until you have scrolled each pane to its end, and you tick unchecked boxes affirming you understand the terms and agreements. That checkbox flow is the acceptance. It is not live yet — it ships with the login build.
Talk and the Wall are public conversation. Yard Talk messages and Wall submissions appear under the nickname you choose, marked unverified where they are member speech. Host posts are labeled. There are no direct messages and no private one-to-one channel on the Yard, under any name, ever.
Picks are free and for fun. Pick'em slates, Homecoming Heat, and Fifth Quarter Wall votes are free to enter, carry no prizes, and no money ever attaches to an engagement mechanic. Votes are tied to your device, not your name.
Homecoming pages show verified dates, venues, and events where verified, and say plainly "schedule unconfirmed" where a detail is not verified. We do not invent a time, venue, or lineup.
Uploads (when open) let you post photos and videos you own or have the right to share. Uploaded files are stored as described in Section 5. Uploads are not open today.

3. What we collect, in detail

This section says in sentences what the table says in rows. If the two ever disagree, the provision more protective of you controls.

When you browse: the site records protection logs (request paths, user-agents, timestamps, protection scores and reasons) to keep bots and abuse off the site. Your picked school, wake-up hour, and dismissed banners live in your browser's local storage and never leave your device unless you choose otherwise. Voting records a one-way hash of a device token so one device gets one vote where the rules say so — we do not ask your name to vote.

When you post: Yard Talk messages, Wall submissions, and reports carry the nickname you choose and the content you write. Posts are public on the site. Member posts are member speech: unverified, and not endorsed by RodwellHQ.

When accounts launch: signing in gives us your name, email address, and profile picture from the provider you chose, plus the provider's subject ID mapped to one internal user ID. We do not receive or store your password, and we do not keep the provider's access tokens. If you rep a school, band, section, or era, we store that as profile data. The sign-in cookie holds a random token; the server stores only a scrambled hash of it, with per-device revoke.

When uploads open: we store only the files you upload, plus the account and operational data in the table. We do not pull files from your other accounts, your camera roll, or anywhere else.

4. What we never do

We never scrape your Facebook, Google, or any other account for your posts, photos, videos, friends, or history. Sign-in, when it launches, tells us who you are at the door — nothing more.
We never sell your personal information, and we never share it with advertisers or sponsors.
We never show your email address publicly.
We never run advertising pixels, tags, or conversion APIs. No advertising tracker is on this site today.
We never operate direct messages or any private one-to-one channel, under any name.
We never aim, tune, or test an engagement mechanic at, on, or against a known or suspected minor.
We never collect a password, a provider access token, or a raw date of birth, and we never store a full device fingerprint.

5. How your content is stored

User files you upload are stored encrypted, and access to stored user files is restricted to RodwellHQ. Files are held in RodwellHQ's managed cloud infrastructure, operated by contracted infrastructure providers under confidentiality and security duties, in distributed facilities. A separate encrypted archive lane holds encrypted copies so content can be restored if a serving copy is lost, and a second independent encrypted backup copy is kept as a redundancy lane.

Three limits on that paragraph, stated plainly so it cannot be misread:

RodwellHQ does not own the servers or the cloud infrastructure. The infrastructure belongs to its providers. "Managed" means RodwellHQ operates and controls the service running on it; it is not a claim of ownership.
Archive encryption is the specified design for uploads and archives, which are not yet live. Uploads are not open today, and no upload archive exists yet. When uploads open, archive copies will be encrypted before transfer, with the keys held outside the storage provider, so the provider cannot read the content — and no key ever travels with an archive copy.
Talk and Wall posts are not end-to-end encrypted. They live in the site database and are public by design. Do not use the public boards for anything you need kept private.

Serving copies and archive copies are both deleted on the clocks in Section 10 when you delete content or your account.

6. Encryption and security

In transit: connections to the site use TLS encryption.
At rest: stored user files and database content are encrypted at rest.
Archive copies: encrypted before transfer, with keys held outside the storage provider. The provider holds scrambled parts, not readable content and not keys.
Sessions (at launch): only a scrambled hash of the session token is stored, never the token itself.
Access: access to stored user files and account data is restricted to RodwellHQ personnel and systems that need it to operate the Service, under confidentiality duties. Contracted infrastructure providers operate the underlying facilities under confidentiality and security duties; they do not receive readable archive content or keys.
What encryption does not do: no system is 100% secure. Section 7 states what happens if safeguards fail.

7. If there is a breach, leak, or unauthorized access

RodwellHQ uses reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information. No method of transmission over the internet and no method of electronic storage is 100% secure, and we do not promise that it is.

If personal data is accessed, disclosed, or acquired without authorization, RodwellHQ will:

investigate promptly and take reasonable steps to contain the incident and prevent further unauthorized access;
notify affected users and the relevant authorities as required by applicable law, without unreasonable delay, describing what happened, what kinds of data were involved, and what you can do;
cooperate with lawful investigations and preserve the records needed to do so.

Notification follows the law that applies to the affected users; this section does not shorten any legal deadline. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us at once at the address in Section 13 and change your sign-in credentials with your provider.

8. Who we share with, and who we do not

We share personal data only:

with contracted infrastructure providers who operate the facilities the Service runs on, under confidentiality and security duties, and only to operate the Service — they do not receive readable archive content or keys;
with authorities when required by law, court order, or valid legal process, and then only the data the law requires;
to protect the safety of users or the public, prevent fraud or abuse, or enforce the Terms, where the law permits.

We do not share personal data with advertisers, sponsors, data brokers, or any buyer. We do not sell personal data. If RodwellHQ is ever acquired or merged, the acquiring party takes this Policy's duties with the data, and users will be notified of any material change in handling before it applies to them, under Section 12.

9. Children

Accounts, when they open, are for people 18 and older. The age screen runs before any personal information is collected for an account, and the raw date of birth is never stored, logged, or kept in any outcome — only a yes/no result, the method, and the time are kept. Browsing stays account-free: a 17-year-old freshman can read every public page today, with no account, no record, and nothing collected from her.

The Yard does not name, rate, or roast a depicted minor. A parent or school can ask for footage of a minor to be taken down, and we will act on it promptly. Engagement mechanics are never aimed at, tuned on, or tested against known or suspected minors. There are no direct messages and no private one-to-one channel, under any name, in part so that no private channel to a minor can exist on this Service.

If we learn that an account holder is under 18, the account is closed and its data handled under Section 10.

10. Your choices and deletion

Delete your content: from your profile, or ask us.
Delete your account: from your profile or the data-deletion page when accounts launch. Deleting an account removes the profile, sessions, uploaded media, and archive copies on these clocks: live systems purged within 14 days; all copies, including every archive part, within 30 days.
The closed list that outlives an account: consent receipts (life of the account plus 3 years, in the segregated store described in the table); moderation and appeal records (kept while needed for safety and appeals, each with its own destruction date); and records under a legal hold (kept only while the hold lasts). Nothing on this list is ever used for advertising or ranking, and nothing else survives deletion.
Timing: requests are acknowledged within 3 business days and completed within 45 days. Deletion is confirmed to you when complete.
Before you confirm deletion, the deletion screen lists exactly what will be deleted, what will be anonymized, and what minimal records are retained and why, with their dates.
Email alerts (such as go-live notifications, when offered) are opt-in only, go only to followers of the person streaming and people who asked for them, and every alert carries one-click unsubscribe.

11. Cookies and your own device

Today the Yard keeps preferences in your browser's local storage (picked school, wake-up hour, dismissed banners) and uses no advertising cookies. When accounts launch, one strictly functional session cookie will keep you signed in: it will hold a random token, and the server will store only a scrambled hash of it, with per-device revoke. That cookie does not exist yet — this paragraph describes the launch design, not a live cookie.

Push notifications are not offered on this site today — there is no push prompt and no subscription path. If push ever ships, it will be opt-in only and listed in the table above, with its own data row, before it collects anything.

12. Changes to this policy

Material changes get 30 days' advance notice on the site, and no changed processing applies to a user before the change's effective date and their new acceptance. For account holders, a material change requires a new checkbox acceptance with a new consent receipt before the changed processing applies to them. Non-material changes (clarifications, contact updates, typo fixes) take effect on the date posted. If this Policy and the Terms ever conflict on data handling, the provision more protective of you controls.

13. Contact

Questions about this policy, or a request about your data:

Email: support@yards.fyi
Site contact page: yards.fyi/contact (available now; this page will list the email address when it is published)

Operator: RodwellHQ LLC.

Published October 26, 2026. Pending licensed North Carolina attorney review before accounts, uploads, or LIVE open publicly.