Privacy Policy

Your information and choices

Southern Tier Lights, operated through STNYM, collects names, email addresses, optional towns, and optional phone numbers for the options you select. Homeowner contact details also help moderators review listing and photo updates and contact entrants. Contact details are not displayed on the public map.

Display names, addresses or map locations, descriptions, visiting hours and submitted photos can be published after moderation. Upload only photos you have permission to share. Avoid identifiable children, license plates and private information. Homeowners can request removal through the map.

We use separate choices for holiday email updates, sponsor offers delivered by Southern Tier Lights, and text updates. Submitting a display, rating, or voting does not subscribe you. Email confirmation is required before a contact is exported for marketing or receives coupons.

Sharing with a named business

When you separately select “Share my name and email with [business],” we may provide that named business with your name, email, optional town, and the permission record so it can email you offers. We may receive compensation for sponsorships or permitted referrals. We do not provide your details to businesses you have not selected. Each selected business is responsible for its own email practices and unsubscribe process. Removing permission here stops future exports but cannot recall a prior export; unsubscribe directly with a business to stop its emails.

Mobile information and text messaging consent are not sold or shared with sponsors, affiliates or third parties for their marketing. Service providers may process information solely to operate our services, including email and text delivery.

Email choices

Email may include events and local offers according to the options you confirm. Proposed preference changes take effect only after email confirmation. Unsubscribe using an email link. A requested resubscription requires a new confirmation. Spam complaints and permanent delivery failures prevent automatic resubscription. Text delivery and new phone-number collection are inactive. Existing text-consent records remain private.

Owner accounts and daily standings

Community suggestions do not create owner accounts or contest entries. Owner requests collect your name, email, and an explanation of your authority for private moderator review. Do not submit identity documents or sensitive personal records. A one-use email link confirms your inbox; approval of authority is separate. Approved owners can manage their existing listing, request moderated updates, and choose contest entry. A separate unchecked choice requests personalized standings and sharing reminders, daily or every three days during active voting. New choices disclose that these emails may contain a clearly labeled link from a local contest sponsor. We record this choice before showing a sponsor link; earlier choices do not authorize one. This choice does not subscribe you to general holiday or sponsor marketing or share contact details with a sponsor. Stop standings emails using the link in an email or your owner account. Provider opt-outs, complaints, and delivery failures also stop updates. Owner sessions use a Secure HttpOnly cookie with a 30-minute idle limit and eight-hour total lifetime. Requests, reviews, consent dates, and delivery records remain private.

Voting, storage and removal

Voting verifies control of an email address, not a unique human. A normalized email is transformed with a private keyed hash to enforce one verified vote per house per New York calendar day within the current season. Voting alone does not create a marketing subscription. Verification links and codes expire after 30 minutes; private pending delivery records may contain the destination until sending completes. A secure HttpOnly voter cookie supports later votes for 30 days. Hashed network and browser signals, house IDs and confirmation timestamps help moderators review unusual voting bursts; held or rejected ballots do not count publicly.

Admin access uses an HttpOnly session cookie; passwords are not stored as browser access tokens. Sponsor redirects record click events and date totals, not unique visitors or sales. We do not yet record a complete visit or share funnel. Technical hosting logs may contain IP addresses. Private contact, consent and moderation records are retained while needed for those services and opt-out handling; withdrawing permission does not erase records needed to respect an unsubscribe.

Pending or removed photos are unavailable publicly. Public photos are re-encoded without original metadata and may be resized. A removal prevents future delivery through this service, but copies previously downloaded or cached elsewhere cannot be recalled.

Contact the Southern Tier Lights operator through STNYM for help, privacy questions, correction or deletion requests. Use the homeowner removal button for display removal. This service is intended for adults; please do not submit children's contact information.

Contest

Voting dates, eligibility, tie handling and any real sponsored prize must be stated in the published season rules. No sponsor or prize is guaranteed. No purchase or marketing signup is required to vote. The published contest rules govern each season.