about updates:
stacks check for updates. and allows each installed stack to check for updates too if the developer has set that up. this requires network access of course. parts of the network access is secure, signed, and encrypted depending on what the developer has set up.
i considered making this optional, so that you could turn it off, but then decided that was a terrible idea. failing to update things leads to broken, insecure, incompatible things. there are very very few solid reasons to avoid updating your stacks.
but if you would like to totally shut off net access to apps, i’d recommend purchasing Little Snitch or something similar that is able to catch, filter, and/or reroute behind-the-scenes network accesses.
crash reporting:
in some versions of Stacks, when Stacks crashes or causes an exception it will try to phone that data home. this crash reporting has been made less useful by recent changes to RapidWeaver so we’re going to be removing this entirely for Stacks 4.
how 'bout analytics:
the released version of Stacks doesn’t currently collect any analytics on anything and never has and never will. i have no interest in ad-revenue based business models. so this is an easy promise for me to make.
i have, in the past, added analytics to private developer beta versions to monitor how widely those releases get leaked and pirated. answer: holy moly! A LOT – some competitors really enjoy seeing my betas. LOL. but why!?! i will never understand this. but whatever. if you’re a competitor, just ask, i’ll send you a copy. no need for cloak and dagger. jeez.
we do have basic google analytics on the yourhead.com website. but honestly, i don’t use it unless something crashes and then just to see if there was a weird traffic spike.
spam:
we have a mailing list. when you buy something from us you get the option to sign up for it. we send an email once every other year or so. really not very often. and even then it’s to give you a deal on the upgrade. we try to make it worth reading.
if you’re not on the mailing list and want to get on, just contact support, Christi will add you to the list.
if you’re on the list but don’t want to be, you can also contact support or just click unsubscribe on the email. we won’t contact you again.