Last updated November 4, 2026
The Distance Learner (thedistancelearner.com) is a blog about earning a college degree through distance education, started by Matthew and David Bass. This page explains what information the site collects when you visit it, and how that information is used.
What we collect
You can read everything on this site without creating an account or giving us any personal information. We don’t sell, rent or trade information about our visitors.
Visit statistics. We use Google Analytics to see how many people visit the site and which pages they read. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as the pages you visit, how long you stay, your approximate location, and your browser and device type. We look only at totals, not at individual visitors. You can read how Google uses this information at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Server logs and security. Like most websites, our web host records basic information about each request, such as your IP address, browser type and the page requested, to keep the site running and secure. Our security software also records the IP address of anyone who tries to sign in to the site’s admin area, to block break-in attempts.
Comments. Comments are currently closed. When a post is open for comments, leaving one means giving a name, an email address and, optionally, a website. The name, website and comment are shown with the comment; the email address is never shown. Comments are checked for spam by Akismet, a service from Automattic (automattic.com/privacy). The pictures beside comments come from Gravatar, also run by Automattic, using a scrambled form of the commenter’s email address. Pages that show these pictures load them from Gravatar, which receives your IP address like any image host.
Email. If you email us, we use your message and email address only to reply.
Amazon links
The Distance Learner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links to books and products on this site are Amazon links; it doesn’t change the price you pay.
Amazon and other third parties may provide content and advertising on this site, and may collect information directly from visitors, including by placing or recognizing cookies in your browser. That information is handled under Amazon’s Privacy Notice, not this policy.
Advertising
Our posts show ads from Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
You can opt out of personalized advertising in Google’s Ads Settings, or opt out of some other vendors’ use of cookies for personalized advertising at aboutads.info/choices. You can read how Google uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Other sites
Our posts link to many other websites, such as colleges, books and the blog’s pages on X and Facebook. Those sites have their own privacy policies, which apply once you follow a link.
Cookies
The site itself normally sets one cookie: our hosting network (Cloudflare) sets a short-lived security cookie, __cf_bm, to tell people from automated traffic. It doesn’t identify you and expires after about 30 minutes. The other cookies described above come from Google Analytics, from Google and other ad vendors on pages with ads, and, after you click an Amazon link, from Amazon. You can block or delete cookies in your browser’s settings; the site works the same without them.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or requests to see or delete information about you, can be sent to matt@thedistancelearner.com. If this policy changes, we’ll update it here and change the date at the top.