Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

The information involved depends on which parts of the website you use. We receive information directly from you, automatically from your browser, and from the providers that deliver our forms, newsletter, analytics, and other services.

• Contact and correspondence: your name, email address, phone number, message, attachments, and other information you provide when contacting us.
• Newsletter information: your email address, any profile or preference information you submit, subscription status, and available delivery and engagement information, such as email opens and link clicks. Email software and privacy settings can affect the accuracy of these measurements.
• Real-estate inquiries: your contact information and the details you choose to share about properties, communities, budget, financing approach, timing, and buying, selling, or renting preferences. Please do not submit Social Security numbers, account credentials, or financial documents through a general inquiry form.
• Editorial contributions: story ideas, corrections, interview responses, photographs, supporting sources, or other material you choose to send. Information intended for publication is addressed in Public submissions, photography and reporting below.
• Device and website activity: IP address, browser and device characteristics, approximate location inferred from technical information, referring pages, pages viewed, timestamps, identifiers stored in cookies or similar technologies, and interactions such as clicks, scrolling, searches, and use of website features.

My DOI, collections, trips and nature records

My DOI uses your Shopify customer sign-in to connect saved information to your account and make it available across devices. When you use these features, the website sends the relevant information to the My DOI service for account storage. This can include:

• Saved resources and collections: page titles and links, categories, folders you create, and details you add, such as private notes, reading or visit status, visit dates, and ratings.
• Saved trips: the itinerary you choose to save, including its name, home-base city, season, pace, interests, number of days, and planned stops and time-of-day slots.
• Nature checklist and journal: birds, wildlife, plants or mountains you mark as seen or visited, along with any observation date, selected DOI place, location description, notes and photos you enter. The current record form uses information you enter; it does not request your device’s GPS location.
• Updates and following: saved pages and any cities or subjects you choose to follow, notification preferences, and information used to match published updates and record which ones you have marked as seen.

Browser storage and account storage are separate. The trip planner automatically keeps its current draft in that browser’s local storage, including when you are signed out. Editing a draft does not by itself save it to your My DOI account: use “Save trip to My DOI” while signed in to keep that version across devices. The itinerary is also encoded in the planner’s address so it can be reopened or shared. A pending resource save and dismissed update notices may be kept temporarily in session storage. Other tools, including restaurant favorites and floor-plan shortlists, comparisons and notes, can use their own browser storage; they are separate from My DOI account saves.

Browser storage can remain on a shared device after you leave a page. Clearing site data can remove local drafts and preferences and may sign you out, but it does not delete information already saved to your My DOI account. The website’s analytics and embedded-service practices described below still apply when you use these tools; a draft being stored locally does not mean all activity on that page stays on your device.

My Home Search

My Home Search is a private organizer for information you choose to add: property addresses and listing links, asking prices and home details, community shortlists, priorities, tour stages, next steps and dates, search preferences, and notes. We store these with your signed-in account so you can use the workspace across devices. A pasted listing link is a reference you can reopen; the tool does not automatically fetch the listing, monitor its price or availability, or send your shortlist to a listing website.

The owner activity dashboard does not show your home-search properties, links, notes, budget or community shortlist, including when optional public-resource activity sharing is on. We do not use these private records to infer your financial eligibility. You may edit, remove, archive and export your search records. Archiving keeps a record available to you; removing it deletes it from the active service. Account deletion covers these records. The operational service stores and processes this information to provide the tool; technical service access and backups remain subject to the retention and security practices below.

My DOI viewing history and personalized recommendations

Your history: when you are signed in, history recording is enabled, and the website’s privacy settings allow both preference and analytics processing, My DOI can record the DOI resources you open. The account-linked record includes the resource’s page link, title and type, viewing dates, and repeat-visit count. Each resource has one history entry; return visits update its date and count. This helps you find resources again across devices. It is separate from your browser’s own history and from resources you deliberately add to Saved.

For you: when personalization is enabled and permitted by your privacy settings, My DOI uses your saved resources and recent exploration to suggest related DOI places and stories. Saved resources carry more weight than viewing activity. Turning personalization off changes the feed to general resource suggestions; it does not delete your history or saved resources.

Recording and privacy choices: you can pause history recording in My DOI and manage the website’s cookie and privacy preferences. Pausing stops new history entries; it does not remove existing account history. Turning recording back on allows new entries when the required privacy permissions are also in place. These My DOI controls do not erase your browser history or separately collected analytics and advertising data.

Retention: My DOI exploration history has no automatic 30-page cap or time-based expiry. Existing entries remain in your account until you remove them, clear exploration history, or delete your My DOI account data. Signing out or clearing browser storage does not delete account-linked history. See Access, correction and deletion for the available controls and request channels.

Private photos, photo collections and your profile

You can upload photos to your private photo library, attach them to nature records, and choose a profile photo and display name. We store the processed image and account-linked information needed to organize it, such as its caption, upload date, size, associated subject or place, observation date, location description, notes, favorites, ratings and photo-collection membership. These details come from your entries and use of the feature.

The current upload process resizes and re-encodes images and removes embedded image metadata, including embedded GPS information, from the stored image. This does not remove a location you type into a record, choose as a place, or reveal within the picture itself. My DOI stores a processed copy, not an archive of your original file.

Private access: My DOI serves uploaded photos through signed-in, account-checked requests. Other members do not receive access merely because they know an image identifier. Your photos and profile image are not automatically published on the website or in a public member feed; public My DOI photo sharing is currently paused. Uploading a private photo does not give permission to use it in our reporting or advertising. Publication would require a separate intentional submission or permission.

Mark and authorized service providers may process or access account information and stored files when necessary to operate, maintain, secure or support the service, respond to your request, or meet legal obligations. The owner dashboard described below displays photo counts and storage totals rather than your images or private notes. “Private” describes access through the My DOI feature; it is not a promise that stored files are inaccessible to authorized service operators.

Followed-page email updates and the newsletter

My DOI updates: saving bookmarks and following pages are separate choices. “Get updates” follows a page or subject for the on-site Updates feed. Email delivery has a separate choice and can be off, daily or weekly. Delivery depends on the service being available, your address being confirmed and new matching updates being available. Saving a new bookmark does not by itself enroll an account using the current interface in email. During the transition from the earlier saved-page system, existing follows and email choices are preserved; an existing off preference is not switched on.

We process your account identifier, recipient email, delivery preference and status, notice version, request and confirmation dates, and preference changes. We also keep delivery records such as update identifiers included in a message, scheduled or attempted sends, provider message identifiers, failures, bounces, complaints and suppression status. These support delivery, troubleshooting, consent records and avoiding duplicate or unwanted messages. Private uploaded photos and journal notes are not included in these messages.

Stop My DOI email: use Email settings in My DOI’s Updates view, or an update email’s unsubscribe link. This stops that email delivery without deleting bookmarks or preventing you from reading the on-site feed. Unfollowing a page removes that matching route; another followed page or area may still match the same update. New articles and collection additions may be discovered automatically; meaningful changes to existing coverage use the editorial update process. Routine edits do not each create an alert.

Stop the newsletter: use the unsubscribe link in a newsletter email or contact Mark. Unsubscribing from My DOI updates does not unsubscribe you from the newsletter, and newsletter unsubscription does not change My DOI email preferences. Neither prevents necessary account notices or a response to your inquiry or privacy request.

Member directory and feature-use reporting

To operate My DOI and help Mark understand adoption of its features, we keep an account directory containing the customer identifier, available name and email, and recorded first and most recent signed-in My DOI access. The owner dashboard can display these details, email preference status, and account-level totals such as saves, folders, nature records, uploaded photos, storage used, follows and viewing-history counts. These operational records and current totals are separate from optional activity tracking and can exist when that tracking is off.

When the website’s privacy settings allow preference and analytics processing and My DOI history recording is enabled, My DOI can also record account-linked feature events, such as opening a dashboard section, saving a resource, adding a nature record or uploading a photo. These records contain the event type, date, count and latest event time. The owner dashboard uses them for feature-use and returning-member reports; without exposing private notes, images or precise observation locations. Individual page history collected before optional sharing was enabled remains outside this reporting.

Optional activity reporting uses a rolling 180-day period, with older records removed during routine cleanup. Turning My DOI history recording off or clearing exploration history also removes these optional activity records. It does not delete account identity, access timestamps, your saved content or email preferences. See Access, correction and deletion for account-removal requests. The separate website analytics and advertising practices below still apply according to their controls and applicable law.

Optional resource activity sharing

In My DOI’s Your History, you can choose “Share my resource activity with DOI.” This separate choice starts off. It allows Mark, through an owner-only dashboard, to view the public DOI resources you open after enabling it, their titles and links, first and latest shared viewing dates and visit counts, your public-resource bookmarks and followed pages or areas, and topic summaries based on those resources. Your earlier private exploration history is not imported. A view records a page opening, not proof of reading or buying intent.

While sharing is enabled and both preference and analytics processing are permitted, we also record clicks from public DOI pages to Bloom and a coarse city, region and country estimate from your IP address. Click records retain the DOI source page, date and count; they discard Bloom search criteria and listing destinations and do not track your subsequent activity on Bloom. IP lookup takes place locally on the My DOI server using the DB-IP Lite database. We do not send visitor IPs to DB-IP, retain raw IPs or precise coordinates in these insight records, request GPS access, fingerprint devices, or link signed-out browsing to an account. Hosting and other services may keep separate technical logs as described elsewhere in this policy. IP location can be inaccurate, especially with VPNs and mobile networks, and is not treated as a home address.

Shared page-history entries whose latest visit is older than 180 days, Bloom click records older than 180 days, and approximate location records older than 180 days are removed during routine cleanup. Turning resource activity sharing off, pausing history, or clearing exploration history deletes these shared activity records; turning sharing off also hides public-resource bookmark and follow details from the owner profile. Forgetting an individual history page removes its shared history and Bloom-source records. Account-data exports and deletion requests cover these records and the sharing preference. These controls do not remove the bookmarks themselves or your older private history. The optional collection also stops when Global Privacy Control is enabled or the required website privacy permissions are absent.

Shared-trip links

“Share trip” creates a link containing an encoded copy of the itinerary at that moment. Anyone who has the link can open that copy without signing into your account and can forward or save it. Encoding is not encryption. The link includes the trip name, planning preferences and itinerary stops; it does not include your private My DOI notes, folders, ratings or nature records, and it does not give the recipient access to your account.

Changes to a trip do not update a link you previously shared. Copy a new link to share a revised itinerary. Removing the trip from My DOI or clearing your browser does not revoke an existing shared link or delete a recipient’s copy. Avoid putting private information in a trip name you intend to share. Shared links may also remain in browser history, messages or services used to send them.

2. How we use information

We use information to respond to inquiries and privacy requests; help with real-estate questions; review story ideas, corrections, and editorial contributions; manage newsletter subscriptions; operate website forms and features; understand which reporting and tools people find useful; diagnose usability issues; measure marketing; protect the website from spam, fraud, and abuse; maintain business records; and meet applicable legal obligations.

For My DOI, we use account-linked information to restore your saved resources, organize folders and trips, display your personal notes, nature journal and private photo library, deliver saved-page alerts according to your preferences, match relevant editorial updates to what you have saved, help you revisit explored resources, and personalize recommendations when enabled and permitted by your privacy settings. Saving a resource can include My DOI email alerts as described above; it does not subscribe you to the separate newsletter.

Newsletter subscriptions can include new reporting, local updates, website resources, and information about Mark’s real-estate work. You can unsubscribe using the link in an email or by contacting us. Unsubscribing from the newsletter does not stop a necessary response to an inquiry, privacy request, or other non-promotional communication.

Submitting an inquiry allows us to respond about that request. This policy does not itself provide consent to automated marketing calls or texts, or replace any separate consent required for a particular activity.

3. When information is shared

• Website and business providers: Shopify and providers supporting hosting, My DOI account storage and syncing, forms, newsletter delivery, email, storage, analytics, security, reviews, and other website features receive information needed for those services. Some providers also process information for their own purposes as explained in their notices.
• Inquiries directed to Mark: real-estate inquiries submitted to Mark are used to respond to you and help with your request. A real-estate transaction can involve additional disclosures and records under separate brokerage agreements and notices.
• Analytics and advertising partners: browsing identifiers and activity may be disclosed through tags, pixels, cookies, or embedded features to measure use, improve services, and support advertising. These disclosures can qualify as a “sale,” “sharing,” or targeted advertising under some privacy laws even when no money changes hands.
• Legal and business needs: we may disclose information to professional advisers, respond to valid legal process, protect rights and safety, address fraud or abuse, or carry out a business transfer, subject to applicable law.

Mark also owns Bloom Home Search Engine. When you follow a home-search link or use an embedded search service, the destination’s notices, account settings, and any consent you provide there also matter. Reading an article does not require you to become a real-estate client.

4. Cookies, analytics and embedded services

Different pages load different services. Some information is transmitted when an embedded feature loads, before you submit a form or play a video. A provider may recognize you through an existing account, cookie, or device identifier and, where its practices and your settings allow, collect information about activity over time and across websites.

Shopify

Shopify hosts this website and supports site delivery, security, performance, contact forms, and related analytics. Shopify’s platform can also provide account and checkout functions where available. Many pages organized as “products” or “collections” are informational guides. Where Shopify Network Intelligence or other enhanced features are enabled, Shopify may combine information from interactions with this website, other merchants, and Shopify to provide those features, including personalization and advertising. Shopify is responsible for that independent processing and associated privacy-rights requests. See the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy and Shopify Privacy Portal.

My DOI hosting and alert delivery

The My DOI service uses Render for hosting and account-data and private-file storage, alongside Shopify sign-in. This includes the saved information, processed photos, preferences and operational records described above. Resend supports My DOI confirmation messages and saved-page alert delivery and receives the recipient address, message content and delivery-related information needed for that service. Resend is separate from Beehiiv, which handles the newsletter. Provider processing and retention also follow the applicable service arrangements and notices. See Render’s privacy policy and Resend’s privacy policy.

Optional property lookups

When available, choosing “Find property details” in My Home Search sends the property address you enter to RentCast, an external property-data provider, through our server. We do not send your My DOI email address, private notes, priorities or account identifier with that lookup. We may cache returned property facts and store a reference snapshot with a property you choose to save. Lookup use is optional; you can enter details manually. Property facts may be incomplete or outdated. RentCast processes requests under its own API terms and privacy practices.

Microsoft Clarity

We use Microsoft Clarity to understand website use through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay. It can record page views, clicks, scrolling, and related device and interaction information using cookies and similar technologies. This helps us identify usability problems and improve our website and marketing. Microsoft also processes data under its own terms. See the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Plausible Analytics

We use Plausible to measure website traffic and events, including which pages and outbound links people use. Plausible describes its standard analytics as cookie-free and designed to produce aggregate statistics without persistent visitor profiles. Other tools on this website have their own tracking practices. See Plausible’s data policy.

Google services

The website includes a Google Ads tag for advertising measurement. Pages may also contain YouTube videos, Google Maps, and Google publisher or reader features. These services can send Google information such as your IP address, the page you visited, identifiers, and feature interactions; they may use cookies and support ad personalization according to applicable settings. See how Google uses information from partner sites and Google’s ad controls.

Beehiiv newsletter

Beehiiv supports newsletter signup where offered on the website, newsletter delivery, subscription management, and available email engagement reporting. The email address and any other information you submit through that signup are sent to Beehiiv for the Desert Oasis Insider newsletter. Its embedded form can also receive technical information, such as your IP address, browser details, and interactions. Newsletter reporting may include delivery status, opens, and link clicks. Use an email’s unsubscribe link or contact Mark to stop receiving the newsletter; submitting a general inquiry is separate from subscribing. See Beehiiv’s privacy policy.

Forms, reviews and security

Contact forms are supported by Shopify, and some forms use hCaptcha for spam protection. Review or other embedded widgets may use providers such as TrustShop or Elfsight where those features appear. These services can receive submitted content, technical identifiers, and interaction information relevant to the feature; app pixels can also process usage and attribution information. An embedded widget can connect to its provider before you interact with it. See Elfsight’s privacy policy and hCaptcha’s privacy policy.

5. Advertising and tracking choices

Request an advertising opt-out: email MarkMillerCA@gmail.com with the subject “Do not sell or share my personal information,” call 442-234-3325, or use our contact form. You may also ask to opt out of targeted advertising. Include enough information to identify the relevant interaction, without sending sensitive documents. These are request channels; opening an email link does not automatically change your browser’s tracking settings. For information Shopify processes independently, use the Shopify Privacy Portal. Available rights depend on applicable law and the provider involved.

Global Privacy Control (GPC): Shopify supports GPC for applicable opt-out processing, depending on the store’s configuration, your location, and the service involved. GPC is different from the older browser “Do Not Track” setting. We do not treat legacy Do Not Track as a universal instruction to disable every service on the website.

Scope of controls: the website includes separately loaded analytics, advertising tags, and embedded features. Shopify’s controls apply to services integrated with its privacy system; a choice in that system does not by itself establish that every separately loaded service has stopped. Provider privacy and advertising settings are linked above. Contact us for help with a broader request. This explanation does not limit any obligation to honor consent or opt-out choices under applicable law.

Cookies and browser settings: you can block or delete cookies through your browser and use any consent controls presented on the site. Settings may need to be repeated on another browser or device or after clearing cookies. Blocking cookies can affect forms, sign-in, embedded content, or other functions. An advertising opt-out does not necessarily stop all analytics, essential processing, or all advertising.

We process requests and recognized opt-out signals as required by applicable law. This notice does not replace any consent that a service or law requires.

6. Access, correction and deletion requests

Manage information in My DOI and your browser

• Exploration history: use the history controls in My DOI to pause new recording or choose “Clear exploration history” to remove explored-page records and their visit counts. Clearing history leaves your saved resources, trips and nature records in place. To prevent new history from accumulating afterward, also pause recording.
• Download account data: use “Download my account data” in My DOI to obtain the account-data export provided by the service. The account-data export includes structured records and photo information, rather than the image files themselves. Downloading a copy does not remove the stored information. Contact us if you need help accessing the export or information not included in it.
• Saved resources: use “Remove” to remove an item from My DOI. Use “Details and notes” to change or clear the details you added.
• Folders: deleting a folder keeps its saved resources in “All saved” and “Unfiled.” Remove the resources separately if you no longer want them saved.
• Trips: use “Remove saved trip” in My Trips to remove that saved version from your account. This leaves the current browser draft and any shared copies unchanged.
• Nature records: open your records for the relevant entry, then use the edit or remove controls. Removing an observation also removes photos still attached to that observation. It does not remove your other observations or photos stored independently in the photo library.
• Private photos and profile: use the delete control for a photo stored independently in the photo library. For a photo still attached to a nature record, removing that record also removes its attached photos; contact Mark if you want only the photo removed while keeping the record. Profile controls let you replace the profile image; contact Mark to remove it without a replacement. Edit captions and other photo details where offered. Deleting a photo collection removes its organization, not the photos it contained; delete the photos separately. Deletion removes the photo from account access and queues its stored file for cleanup, including retries if cleanup fails.
• Email preferences: manage My DOI alerts and newsletter subscriptions separately as described in Saved-page email alerts and the newsletter. Opting out stops those messages but does not by itself erase preference, consent, delivery or suppression records.
• Local drafts and preferences: “Start a new trip” replaces the planner’s current browser draft. To remove stored drafts and other local preferences, clear this website’s data in your browser settings. For an itinerary retained in browser history or bookmarks, remove that history entry or bookmark separately.

You can also contact us for a copy of your account information, help removing all My DOI information, or an account-deletion request using the details below. Signing out or clearing browser data is not an account-deletion request.

Contact us about a privacy request

You can contact us to ask what personal information we hold about you, request a copy, correct inaccurate information, request deletion, or raise a privacy concern. Depending on your location and the law’s applicability to the information and business involved, you may also have rights to portability, to opt out of sale or sharing or targeted advertising, to limit certain uses of sensitive information, or to withdraw consent or object to processing.

Email MarkMillerCA@gmail.com or call 442-234-3325. Tell us the request and the email address or interaction that will help locate your information. Do not send a password, Social Security number, or identity document unless a necessary verification method has been agreed with you.

We may ask for proportionate information to verify your identity and authority before disclosing or changing records. Where applicable law allows an authorized agent, we may request evidence of that authorization. We respond within applicable legal deadlines and explain any limits or denial. Some records may need to be retained for legal obligations, security, transaction administration, or disputes. We do not discriminate for exercising applicable privacy rights.

If you disagree with our response, reply to request further review or an appeal where available. You may also contact the relevant privacy regulator. Requests relating to information held independently by another provider may need to be made directly to that organization.

7. Retention and security

For My DOI exploration history, the account-retention and removal controls are described in My DOI viewing history and personalized recommendations. Pausing recording does not start an automatic deletion period.

Saved account information and photos: My DOI saved content, profiles, photo organization and preferences do not have a fixed automatic expiry in the current service. They remain until changed, removed, or addressed through an account-data deletion request, subject to necessary legal or security retention. Account deletion removes the associated My DOI directory, optional activity, saved information and private-photo records, and queues stored image files for cleanup. Backups may retain earlier copies until their applicable retention cycle expires; deleting account data does not erase copies you or another recipient already downloaded or shared.

Alert records: email preferences, confirmation and consent history, and delivery metadata support an active subscription, opt-out handling, troubleshooting and prevention of duplicate sends. Stopping alerts keeps the off preference and related records. In the current service, completed-message payloads older than 30 days and webhook deduplication records older than 30 days are cleared during routine cleanup; unresolved or queued messages can remain longer. Other account-linked delivery and preference records have no fixed automatic expiry and are removed with My DOI account-data deletion. Some provider delivery identifiers and hashed address-suppression records can remain separately to manage failures, bounces or complaints and prevent unwanted delivery. A hashed address is a derived identifier, not a promise of anonymity. Provider-held records and backups follow their own applicable retention arrangements.

Retention depends on the type of information and its purpose. Inquiry and real-estate records may be kept while handling your request or relationship and for applicable business and legal recordkeeping. Newsletter information supports your subscription and necessary unsubscribe records. If we retain records from discontinued services or earlier activity-form work, those records are handled only for relevant recordkeeping, legal obligations, requests, or disputes; ending a service does not automatically delete its past records. Analytics, advertising, and technical data are also subject to provider retention settings and policies.

We consider whether information is still needed to provide services, document consent or preferences, comply with law, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, or enforce agreements. Ask us about a particular record or request deletion using the contact information above.

No website, email system, or storage method can guarantee complete security. Use care when submitting information, and arrange an appropriate method with us before sending sensitive documents. A general contact form is not a secure document portal.

8. Public submissions, photography and reporting

Private My DOI photos, captions and journal entries are account content, not public editorial submissions. The separate permissions for public submissions below do not automatically apply to them.

Public comments, reviews, or other material you intentionally submit for public display can be visible to others and may be copied outside our control. Private inquiries are handled as correspondence; submitting one does not automatically give us permission to publish it as a testimonial.

Our reporting may feature public events, interviews, photographs, and information from public sources. Publishing decisions and correction requests are addressed in our Editorial Standards. Contact us with a specific privacy or image concern; any request is considered in light of the circumstances and applicable rights.

9. Children’s information

This is a general-audience publication. Our inquiry, newsletter, and account features are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13 through those features. A parent or guardian who believes a child has supplied personal information should contact us so we can investigate and address it.

Do not submit a child’s sensitive information through a general website inquiry.

10. Visitors outside California

We operate in California, and our providers may process information in the United States and other countries. Privacy laws and protections differ by location. Where another jurisdiction’s data-protection law applies, we process information on the applicable legal basis, such as providing a requested service, legitimate interests where permitted, consent where required, or compliance with law, and use required transfer safeguards where applicable. You can contact us about the processing or safeguards relevant to your information.

11. Changes to this policy and your account

We post revisions here with an updated effective or last-updated date. My DOI’s Account updates log explains meaningful changes to account features and privacy practices. We may also show a notice on your next signed-in visit. These account notices are separate from optional newsletters and saved-page email alerts.

When a change requires your permission, we present a specific choice explaining the information involved and its purpose. Reading or dismissing an update, continuing to use My DOI, or acknowledging revised terms does not turn optional resource-activity sharing on. Choosing “Allow resource sharing” enables that described sharing going forward; “Keep my activity private” leaves it off. You can change the preference later in My DOI’s Your History view.

We keep the update identifier and version, the time it was acknowledged, and any permission response to remember your choice across devices and document it. Earlier private viewing history is not transferred into the owner’s activity view. Changes do not override existing privacy choices or nonwaivable rights. We provide additional notice or obtain consent when required by applicable law.

12. Contact us

For a privacy question, request, correction, or concern, contact:

Related: Terms of Use · Editorial Standards