As this blog has grown, we’ve changed things a few times to make them better. Last December, we moved from Blogger to our own domain here at Brothers-Brick.com. We’ve also improved performance and reliability by changing to a new Web hosting provider. All of these changes were intended to make your experience more enjoyable, and as a result, we’ve had to become more professional.

One important thing that’s been missing has been a privacy policy. Privacy policies let users of Web sites know what personal information the site collects and how that information is used. It’s also an important component of legal compliance with laws like The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Using non-legal, non-technical language, we’ve written a Brothers-Brick.com Privacy Policy that we hope won’t change anything about the site’s experience for most of our readers. In addition to the necessary information about personal information and cookies, the policy also includes several links to online privacy and safety information.

One change we’ve had to make for COPPA compliance is restricting Contact Form use and commenting to readers over the age of 13. The software we use for the site simply does not have the features necessary to get your parents’ permission for you to use this site. I’ve added new notices on the Contact Form and above the comment box to reflect this change in policy.

What this means if you’re not 13 yet: If you’re a Brothers-Brick.com reader under the age of 13, the new rules mean that you will no longer be allowed to leave comments or use the Contact Form. You’ll all be welcome back when you turn 13.