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Paul Bunyan Message Logger by Diamond Sierra

Your data and privacy

What Paul Bunyan stores, what it strips out, who can see it, how to take a copy or delete it, and the only ways anything leaves your site.

Updated · By Diamond Sierra

The Fix first screen: problems ranked by cost, each with its PB code and what to do
On this page

Paul Bunyan keeps everything it records in one table in your own WordPress database. Only administrators can see it, and it is removed when you delete the plugin. The free plugin does not connect to any outside service.

What is stripped before storing

  • Values are removed from SQL queries and from web addresses, so a query is stored by its shape, not its data. A query too large to summarize is kept only as its kind and table.
  • Keys that look like secrets, such as passwords and tokens, are redacted.
  • Email addresses are masked as ***@domain.com (a setting, on by default).
  • Each request is tagged visitor, logged in or administrator: the kind of user only, never who.
  • The browser timing script sets no cookies and stores no identifiers. It reports paths and timings only.

The Your data screen

Paul Bunyan → Your data shows how many messages are stored, how much space they use, the oldest one, and how long they are kept. From there you can:

Your data screen showing what is stored and where, what is never stored, what is masked, and downloads for messages and setup
Your data: what is stored, what never is, and how to take a copy.
  • Download messages as CSV or JSON.
  • Download setup: your settings, watch list and alert rules in one file, to use on another site. An AI key is never included.
  • Import setup from another site. An AI key is never taken from a file.
  • Delete all recorded messages. Settings, alert rules and markers stay.
  • Reset Paul Bunyan, which also deletes markers, alert rules and settings, including a saved AI key.

Both deletions ask you to confirm first and cannot be undone. Export and delete are in the free edition.

When can anything leave your site?

In the free plugin, only when you take it out yourself: copying or downloading the AI report, downloading messages, or saving a request as an HTML file to send to someone.

With Paul Bunyan Professional, also:

  • Ask AI and "Explain this". When you press them, the report text is sent to the AI service you chose, with your own key. It contains timings, function names, file paths, plugin names, query shapes with their values removed, and your site's host name. Nothing is sent at any other time. That service's own terms and charges apply.
  • Alert webhooks. If you give an alert rule a webhook address, the alert text is posted to that address when the rule fires.
  • The daily license check. Professional sends its license key and your site's address to diamondsierra.com once a day. See License keys, sites and renewals.

How long it is kept

3 days of full detail and 7 days of summary in the free edition; longer, and adjustable, in Professional. A daily cleanup removes older messages.

Removing everything

Switching Paul Bunyan off stops all recording. Deleting the plugin from the Plugins screen removes its table and every setting.

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