Privacy Policy

Last updated 2026-11-04

UmeedForum (umeedforum.site) is a mental health forum for Pakistan. People share sensitive things here, so we collect as little as we can and never sell your data. This policy explains what we keep and why.

What we collect

Account details: your name, email address and password. Passwords are stored only as a secure hash — we cannot read them.
Profile details you choose to add: city, profile picture, and whether you are 18 or older.
Psychologists also give: a licence or registration number (used only to verify you), specialty and a short bio.
What you post: questions, stories, confessions, replies, reactions, ratings and reviews, hashtags and drafts.
Private messages between members and psychologists, and the people you block.
Images you upload. They are compressed, and hidden data such as camera details and GPS location is removed.
Technical data: our web server briefly logs IP addresses, pages requested and browser type to keep the site secure and stop abuse.

We do not use advertising trackers, analytics services or tracking pixels.

Anonymous posts

When you post anonymously, other people — members, psychologists and the public — see only a random name. Your real name, profile and picture are not shown, and the anonymous name cannot be used to find your account.

The post is still stored with your account so that you can edit or delete it. We do not reveal who wrote an anonymous post, except where Pakistani law requires us to or where someone's life is at immediate risk.

Who can see what

Public: posts and replies (open ones with your name, anonymous ones without), public psychologist profiles and reviews. Reviews are shown without the reviewer's name. Public pages can appear in search engines such as Google; posts in 18+ topics are not shown to search engines or signed-out visitors.
Private messages: only the member and the psychologist in the conversation. Both real names are shown. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted; they are stored on our server and we do not read them, except when needed to investigate serious abuse reported to us, to keep the service secure, or when the law requires it.
Never public: your email address, password, licence number and drafts.
Site administrators can see account details (including email and licence number) to verify psychologists and handle abuse.

How we use your information

To run the forum: show your posts, deliver messages, save drafts and keep you signed in.
To verify psychologists and show ratings.
To keep the site safe: limits such as three questions a day, blocking, and removing abusive content or accounts.
To help people find answers: generating hashtags and search descriptions for public posts (see below).

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

Services we share data with

Groq (AI service, United States): the title, text, topic and city of a post are sent to Groq to suggest hashtags, a search description and related questions. Your name, email and account are never sent. Private messages are never sent.
Google Fonts: the site's fonts load from Google's servers, which receive your IP address when a page loads.
Hosting: the site and its database run on servers rented from a hosting provider, which may be outside Pakistan.
Legal requests: we may disclose information if required by Pakistani law, such as a valid court order, or to protect someone from serious harm.

Cookies and storage on your device

We use one essential cookie to keep you signed in. It lasts up to 7 days and is removed when you sign out. Your browser also keeps unsent replies and messages on your device so you don't lose them. We use no advertising or tracking cookies.

How long we keep data

Your account and posts are kept until you delete them or ask us to delete your account.
Deleting a post or reply removes it from the site and our database straight away.
Drafts are removed when you publish or discard them.
Server logs are kept for about two weeks.
Backups may keep deleted data for a short time before they are overwritten.

Your choices and rights

Edit your profile, change your picture, and edit or delete your own posts, replies, images and ratings at any time.
Block a member from messaging you (psychologists).
Ask for a copy of your data, a correction, or deletion of your account by emailing support@umeedforum.site from your account's email address. We reply within 30 days.

Security

The site uses HTTPS, passwords are hashed, the sign-in cookie cannot be read by scripts, and access to the server is restricted. No system is perfectly secure, so please don't share details that could identify you or others in public posts, and use a password you don't use elsewhere.

Age

You must be at least 13 to use UmeedForum. Topics marked 18+ are hidden unless you confirm you are 18 or older. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, email support@umeedforum.site and we will remove it.

Changes and contact

We will update this page if our practices change and show the new date at the top. For anything about your privacy, email support@umeedforum.site.