Synthesis Engineering Services inc., provides this website as one of many avenues to conduct business and provide information. As part of the services, some typical web technologies are incorporated to make the experience nice, and to enhance communication with and for our visitors.
While we try to keep the intrusion to a minimum, information is requested in the following areas of Synthx.com and associated websites (like MechanicalElements.com, TheStartingSpark, etc.) to provide specific services. By using these sites for any of their services, you agree to the items of this Privacy Policy / Terms of Service. The specific services where information is requested are:
- To send or request information using one of the Contact Us Pages or other Contact Forms.
- For scheduling time with the Engineer for consulting purposes.
- When sending payment for certain services, and for purchasing plans from the MechanicalElements.com (separate website, a feature of Synthesis Engineering Services, inc.).
- To leave a comment with an article on either website (Synthx.com or MechanicalElements.com).
- When requesting a subscription to our Newsletters, or other Periodic Mailing / eMailing features.
This Privacy Policy explains where and how the information you provide may be gathered and/or used to deliver the services.
Information Privacy:
By this Privacy Policy, Synthesis Engineering does not share, sell or otherwise distribute customer information to any other company or organization for any reason. We Respect Your Privacy.
Using the site does collect information in a couple circumstances that is not controlled by Synthesis. To schedule time with the Engineer, and to purchase plans (from MechanicalElements.com), credit card information is processed through Stripe or PayPal. The respective privacy policy for each are given on their web sites at Stripe.com and PayPal.com. They also do not sell or share information with third parties. Synthesis does not have control over these companies.
Additionally, some generic (non-identifying) site navigating information is gathered for analytics in aggregate. Nothing is connected back to individuals.
Required Information:
When sending to us, the Contact Us Page (and other Contact Forms) will require certain information. This info, including a valid e-mail address is required for us to respond back. The name and email address are held confidential, but will be used to respond as needed.
Information given in a comment for an article, or a review of a product, is treated much like information with our Contact Forms, except: The 'Display Name' and comment may be posted publicly with the article or product. Email addresses are NOT published, but may be used to respond to you if needed.
To purchase plans at MechanicalElements.com, contact information (like name, address, email and zip code) are required for verifications, credit card transactions, and to send orders. Receipts are sent via e-mail to the address given. A telephone number is required in case there is a problem with the order. As stated above, by our privacy policy, the information is not shared.
To receive newsletters or announcements (like the Pro/E Tip-of-the-Month (service suspended)) via e-mail, an active e-mail address is required. We use the email addresses to send the information requested. We do not sell or give contact information to any third party.
Please be careful entering information. If an email address, for instance, is not typed correctly, you will not receive a response, or the information requested. Synthesis is not responsible for incorrect information.
Cookies:
Both Synthx.com and MechanicalElements.com use WordPress as the basis of the website. WordPress does incorporate Cookies to serve visitors content they request. See WordPress for more information about how their software uses cookies.
Our sites also use Google Analytics codes to understand, in the aggregate, how visitors interact with the website. Again, these are non-identifying and used for purposes of improving our site based on aggregate behavior - not by individual. They include Analytics, AdWords and Console codes.
We encourage customers to clear cache and cookies if they don't want the cookies to follow them after leaving our sites. It might mean visitors won't get the best browsing experience, but that's OK. None of our sites depend on cookies to provide service - except when logged in your personal areas on MechanicalElements.com
Credit Cards:
For items purchased from our either of our websites, credit card processing is done through Stripe or PayPal. On these transactions, Synthesis Engineering Services will appear on the credit card billing statement. Read this article about Credit Card Identifiers for more information.
For your security, Synthesis Engineering Services does not handle, receive or directly process credit card information. We have hired Stripe and PayPal to do that for us. Credit Card info is collected directly by a CC processing provider, either PayPal or Stripe, through their portal on our site. We can't see it, don't have access to it, and therefore can't and don't store it. We do not hold, save, maintain or otherwise have access to any Credit Card information.
Credit card transactions must be done through the portals we provide. We cannot process Credit Cards over the phone or by mail or any other way. Please do not send us credit card information. Thank you.
As mentioned above, please see the Privacy Policy for each of these providers on their websites. While we believe they work to appropriate industry standards, we cannot control how they handle the transactions or the data they collect.
Comments and Media:
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the forms as noted above, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. If so, your profile picture maybe be visible to the public along with your comment. See the Gravatar service privacy policy also.
When submitting comments or stories (with or without images) to Synthesis or to Mechanical Elements for public display, they become visible to the public. By uploading, you understand and agree the Story, Content, Photos and Screen Name may be shown to the public, and you give permission for public display. All other info is strictly private as noted above.
Please Note: Information uploaded specifically for public display - like stories and media (photos, videos, etc.), comments, etc. - become the property of Synthesis to use as needed. We may edit photos or videos for size and content, as well as editing text for grammar, content, length, etc.. Examples of this are uploading with comments, ratings, or the "Customer Stories" feature of Mechanical Elements. As can be seen on the sites, we always strive to use the data in a respectful, tasteful, and professional manner. Please contact us if you see something we missed.
Services:
Identifying information may be used to provide the services you request. Additionally, contact information may be used to notify individuals of changes or additions to services.
As noted above, we do use services from PayPal and Stripe for Credit Card processing. Additionally, we services for website security and SPAM identification that monitor information provided to assure those who are logging in, leaving comments, requesting information, purchasing services, etc., are who they say. If our Spam or Security identifying services flag you as SPAM or as a BOT or otherwise malicious, we will not receive your requests. These other services do not store your information unless they determine your activity is malicious.
All information is stored with industry standard procedures for backup, protection and security. All of both Synthx.com and MechanicalElements.com are under the HTTPS protocol.
You may request information Removal by contacting us through our Contact Us Page, or through the link at the bottom of a newsletter.
Content & Comments Disclaimer:
Articles, information and comments on this website are for informational purposes only. Opinions of the author are always present. Please enjoy the website and use it with a filter of personal judgement for the specifics of your situation. You are responsible for how you use the information.
Visitors leaving comments on the site also have their opinions. While we welcome other viewpoints, we will not approve comments of a vile nature whether racist, hate, violence or other degradation. Keep your language and your context clean. We also do not approve comments that are advertising or spam-ish in nature. Approval is at the sole discretion of site administrators, and we will not notify folks when comments are not approved — we just delete them. If you disagree with a published opinion, we welcome disagreement - and we will happily publish opposing viewpoints - when they are polite and respectful.
As a strict part of our Privacy Policy, comments that include URL’s as backlinks subversively left to “fool” search engines are deleted. We don’t appreciate being "used" for advertising. If you want to discuss mutually beneficial link trades, please contact us. We are definitely open to that if the situation is right. If your SEO helper does this kind of unethical thing, we suggest you fire them.
Use Agreement (As Terms of Service):
The Feature "The Engineer's Perspective"; and all the Pro/E Tips; and other articles are for information only and may reflect the opinions of the author. Articles fall in this category as well. Your use of the information is entirely up to you, and Synthesis bears no responsibility for how customers interpret or use the information.
Product plans provided for sale through Synthx.com and through MechanicalElements.com are for individual use only. Any use of these plans for resale or for producing products for sale is strictly prohibited. When we find sellers on eBay or other sites that pirate or offer for sale copyrighted material, we shut them down. Yes, as a copyright owner we do have that authority, so we will shut down your entire store. Please respect rights of others - Always.
Licensing for production and/or resale of our plans is available on request. Thank you for honoring these terms.
Privacy Policy Questions:
How long we retain your data?
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely, or until we delete them. This is also true of purchases on the sites. See the above listed services for their policies also.
We do not track time of account existence or longevity since use, so we do not automatically delete accounts or comments or other data you provide based on time, activity or inactivity.
When purchasing or registering on our sites, we also store data for your user profile. You can see, edit, or delete your personal information at any time (except you cannot change a username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information. This info is maintained until it is expressly deleted. (We actually don't have a way to set expiration since this is a function of the software we use, so this Privacy Policy reflects the content of their Privacy Policy.)
What data rights do you have?
Your data is still yours. As mentioned above, you may request information Removal by contacting us through our Contact Us Page, or through the link at the bottom of a newsletter. This does not include data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes. It also does not include information, like Credit Card transactions, for us or our service providers.
Questions regarding this Privacy Policy or any of the services provided on this web site may be directed to Synthesis via our Contact Us Page.
Thank you for visiting, and thank you for being a great customer. Have a wonderful day.