Cookies information

This page explains the cookie policy of this website.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small snippet of text that a website asks your browser to store. All cookies have expiration dates in them that determine how long they stay in your browser. Cookies can be removed in two ways: automatically, when they expire, or when you manually delete them. We’ve included more details below to help you understand what kinds of cookies we use.

Does this website use cookies?

Yes, with the primary purpose to make the website work more effectively.

What kinds of cookies do you use and why?

We use different kinds of cookies for various reasons:

Session cookies – these are temporary cookies that expire (and are automatically erased) whenever you close your browser. We use session cookies to grant access to content and enable commenting (things you have to log in to do).

Persistent cookies – these usually have an expiration date far into the future and thus stay in your browser until they expire, or until you manually delete them. We use persistent cookies for functionalities like the “Stay logged in” tickbox, which makes it possible for registered users to return to the site without having to log in. We also use persistent cookies to better understand usage patterns so we can improve the site for our customers. This information is anonymised – when we look at the data, in other words, we look at patterns, but we do not see individuals’ personally identified information (PII).

What other cookies might I encounter at this website?

There are also limited third-party cookies on the site. These cookies could be session or persistent and are set by third parties like Google and Facebook. To ensure the best user experience, we restrict the use of third-party cookies to trusted partners. For example, we currently allow:

Social sharing and login – When you register or log in with credentials from social networks like Facebook or Twitter, you authorise them to store a persistent cookie that will remember you and grant you access to our site every time you visit until it expires. You can delete that cookie (and revoke the access it grants) by updating your preferences with each respective social network. So if you no longer want to be able to log in through Facebook, you’ll need to update your settings at Facebook. We also use addthis.com to facilitate social sharing, which requires the use of cookies managed by addthis.com

Content management – We use WordPress (blog) and Phpbb (forum) cookies to our content and your interaction with it.

Audience measurement and validation – We use services such as Google Analytics to understand how many people come and what is popular which helps us improve the website. No personally identifiable information (PII) is stored and site usage is always looked at on an aggregate (and anonymous) level.

Other functionality – we use Doubleclick (Google) for our advertising platform, along with cookies from Torfx.com and Currency.me.uk for adverts related to foreign currency exchange. Those teams may set cookies in order to control frequency and target advertising to the right section or geographic region.

In summary, we use a variety of cookies, including the following:

  • Google Analytics
  • Google AdWords
  • Facebook Custom Audience
  • Google Publisher Tags
  • Google Tag Manager
  • Facebook Connect

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

What kinds of cookies do you not use?

We do not use re-targeting cookies and do not use flash cookies (sometimes known as local shared objects or LSOs). We do not allow third-party advertising networks to drop cookies on our site to behaviourally target advertising to our users, either.

Do you use any so-called “intrusive” cookies?

No. We don’t use re-targeting cookies or flash cookies or any other kind of cookie that can capture personally identifiable information (PII).

Do you use cookies to sell customer information?

No.

How can I delete or disable cookies?

If you want to delete or disable cookies, see: www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies

Will the site work if I disable cookies?

You can browse this site with cookies disabled, though some interactions may not work. For example, ticking the “Stay logged in” box at forum login will not actually keep you logged in to the forum unless you have enabled cookies.

Why does the cookie banner message explaining cookies keep appearing?

If you close the banner and it reappears the next time you visit us, you most likely have cookies disabled. We use a persistent cookie to remember that you closed the banner, but this only works when cookies on our site are enabled.

For more information see our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions