Privacy policy

Default loading, the banner, and how to withdraw

Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity, and Adsterra ads load as soon as a page opens. The banner appears on the first visit while these scripts are running. Choosing Reject updates Google consent signals to denied and reloads the page to stop existing vendor timers and requests; the choice is stored for 180 days. Accept keeps everything on. The footer’s Cookie settings button opens the same banner again at any time.

If no choice is stored, the site treats the visit as granted (the default-on rule) and writes that record before showing the banner. If the browser exposes navigator.globalPrivacyControl as true, or the visitor previously chose Reject, the site treats the visit as denied and does not load the ad or replay scripts. A Do Not Track header is not a signal we can read reliably; Global Privacy Control is the signal the page honors.

The legal basis for analytics and advertising is your consent where local law requires one, and otherwise our legitimate interest in measuring the guide and funding its hosting. Withdrawing consent is the Reject button, the Cookie settings button, or clearing the keys below in your browser.

Google Analytics 4 (gtag.js)

We use Google Analytics 4 property G-05Z81XXDQK through googletagmanager.com. It sets the first-party cookies _ga (two years) and _ga_<container> (two years) to tell returning browsers apart, and sends page views, referrers, approximate location, device, and interaction events to google-analytics.com. Google Analytics retention is controlled in the property settings; we have not independently confirmed the selected retention period and therefore do not publish a duration for this property. IP addresses are not logged for EU/UK traffic. Legal basis: consent or legitimate interest as described above.

Opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, or by choosing Reject here. Google’s own description is in the Google Privacy Policy.

Microsoft Clarity

Clarity project z9r5t1h9dy records session replays and heatmaps through clarity.ms. It sets the cookies _clck (one year, a persistent user id) and _clsk (one day, session stitching), and may set MUID on Microsoft domains. Session recordings are kept for 30 days and heatmap data for nine months; labelled or favourited recordings can also be kept for nine months. Clarity masks sensitive input content according to its masking rules; we do not send it names, emails, or account data. Legal basis: consent or legitimate interest as described above.

Opt out by choosing Reject here, or read Microsoft’s privacy statement and the Clarity FAQ.

Adsterra advertising

We serve display advertising through Adsterra (publisher 3403020, website 6181664): a native banner inside the article flow (unit 32136447) and a fixed Social Bar at the bottom of the viewport (unit 32136448). The ad scripts load from bicea.org and the creatives from Adsterra’s rotating CDNs. Adsterra and its partners may set cookies and similar identifiers on their own domains, which may include bot-management and frequency-capping identifiers, to cap frequency, measure clicks, and choose a creative. We do not receive or store those identifiers; Adsterra’s retention schedule applies to them. The publisher configuration requests that adult ads be disabled for this site. Legal basis: consent or legitimate interest as described above.

You can turn ads off with Reject here. For personalised advertising across sites, use Google Ads Settings, the DAA opt-out, or Your Online Choices; Adsterra’s own policy is at adsterra.com/privacy-policy.

YouTube trailers

Trailers start as a still image served from this site. Nothing from YouTube loads until you press play. The click then embeds youtube-nocookie.com and, after that, Google can set its own cookies and read the player. We do not control those cookies or receive the viewing data. Legal basis for the embed is your action in pressing play.

YouTube’s handling is described in the Google Privacy Policy. Choosing Reject does not block a trailer you deliberately start; it only stops the automatic analytics, replay, and ad scripts.

The keys this site stores on your device

The site itself writes no cookies. It stores three values locally: eps-consent in localStorage, a JSON record of your choice (granted or denied) with the time it was written, kept for 180 days and renewed whenever you choose again; eps-banner-seen in sessionStorage, which only remembers that the banner was closed in this tab and disappears when the tab closes; and eps-adbar-closed in localStorage, which remembers that you closed the Adsterra Social Bar so it does not reappear on the next page view. None of these is sent to our server.

Deleting eps-consent resets the site to the default-on behaviour. Deleting eps-adbar-closed lets the Social Bar appear again. Your browser’s site-data controls can remove all of them at once.

Mail, your rights, and changes

If you email [email protected], the message is stored in that mailbox so the editor can reply, and handled through Cloudflare Email Routing and the mail-hub Worker; you can request deletion. The legal basis for the mailbox is the request you sent. You can ask for a copy of mail we still hold, a correction, or deletion at the same address, and you can object to analytics or advertising at any time with the Reject button. You also have the right to complain to your local data-protection authority.

This policy changes by editing this page; the date line is the modified time. The editorial policy covers facts, not personal data, and the contact page lists the mailbox and the limits of what we can answer.

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