Privacy policy
Last updated November 1, 2026. This policy covers counter-strike.us and its forum at forum.counter-strike.us.
counter-strike.us is a small, fan-run community site for Counter-Strike 2 players in the United States. It is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. We collect only what we need to run the site, we don't sell or rent your information, and we don't use advertising or analytics trackers. The rules for using the site are in our terms of service.
What we collect
When you just browse
You can read news, the blog, and the server list without an account. Like almost every website, our web server keeps standard access logs: your IP address, browser type, the pages you request, and when. We use these logs to keep the site running and to stop abuse, and they are deleted automatically on a short rotation, normally within about two weeks. To limit spam and repeated sign-in attempts, the site also briefly records IP addresses against rate limits; those records are cleared within two days.
When you create a forum account
The forum runs on Discourse, open-source software that we host ourselves. When you sign up, it stores your username, email address, an encrypted copy of your password, your profile details, and what you post. Like the main site, it logs IP addresses to prevent spam and abuse. Your email address is never shown publicly. Forum moderators and administrators can see account details and, when needed to deal with abuse or a report, private messages.
When you sign in to counter-strike.us
The main site uses your forum account to sign you in. When you do, the forum shares your forum user ID, username, display name, email address, avatar, and whether you are forum staff. We keep these so we know which server listings are yours and can contact you about them if we need to.
When you list a game server
A server listing includes the server's IP address and port, the name, description, and links you enter, and your forum username as the person who listed it. All of this is shown publicly, because that is the point of the list. To check that a server is real and in the United States, we look up the city and state for the server's IP address using a location database stored on our own server, and we may ask Valve's public Steam server list whether the server is registered there. Those checks are about the game server, not about you. While a server is listed, we query it every few minutes for its name, map, and player count, which are also shown publicly.
Staff accounts
People who help run the site have separate staff accounts protected by two-factor authentication. We keep a log of staff actions, including the IP address they came from, for one year so we can investigate problems.
Cookies
We use only the cookies the site needs to work. There are no advertising, tracking, or analytics cookies.
| Cookie | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
csus_sid | Keeps you signed in and protects forms from forgery | Until you close your browser |
csus_trust | Staff only: remembers a computer that a staff member chose to trust | Up to 90 days, set by staff |
| Forum cookies | Discourse uses its own cookies to keep you signed in to the forum and remember your preferences | Varies |
Third parties
We don't share your information with advertisers or data brokers, and we never sell it. A few outside services are involved in running the site:
- Our hosting provider runs the server the site lives on, so the data above is stored on their hardware.
- Email from the forum (account confirmations, password resets, notifications you choose) is sent from our own mail server. Your email provider will of course receive it.
- YouTube: some posts embed videos. We use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, and nothing loads from YouTube unless the page you are reading contains a video. YouTube's own privacy policy applies to those videos.
- Links to server websites, Discord invites, Steam, and other sites take you to services with their own privacy policies.
We will disclose information if the law requires it, for example in response to a valid court order, or if it is needed to protect people from harm.
How long we keep it
- Web server logs: about two weeks.
- Your account and listing details: until you ask us to delete them or remove the listing.
- Server listings: until the owner or staff removes them. Listings that stay offline are hidden automatically.
- Forum posts: until you or the staff delete them. Deleting a forum account can remove or anonymize your posts.
- Staff activity log: one year.
Your choices
You can ask us at any time to show you the information we hold about you, correct it, or delete it. You can remove your own server listings from My servers, and edit or delete your forum profile and posts from the forum. To make a request, send a private message to the staff on the forum. We'll respond within 30 days. We may need to confirm the request comes from you, for example by asking you to send it from your forum account.
Security
The whole site uses encrypted HTTPS connections. Passwords are stored only as secure hashes, staff accounts require two-factor authentication, and access to the server is restricted. No website can promise perfect security, but if we learn of a breach that affects your information we will tell you promptly.
Children
This site is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. Counter-Strike 2 itself is rated for mature audiences. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, send a private message to the staff on the forum and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. For significant changes, we'll also post a notice on the site or the forum.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your information? Send a private message to the staff on the forum.