Cookies Policy

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small files which are stored on a user’s computer. They are designed to hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular client and website, and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer. This allows the server to deliver a page tailored to a particular user, or the page itself can contain some script which is aware of the data in the cookie and so is able to carry information from one visit to the website (or related site) to the next.

Cookies used on this website

_ga
This is a Google analytics cookie and is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request in a site and used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the sites analytics reports.

_gat
This is a Google analytics cookie, used to throttle the request rate - limiting the collection of data on high traffic sites. It expires after 10 minutes.

_gid
This is a Google session cookie, used to distinguish users. Default expiration time: 24 hours.

CONSENT, NID
These are Google cookies. Google use different types of cookies to run Google websites and ads-related products. Google uses various domains to set cookies used in their advertising products, including the domain gstatic.com

exp_csrf_token
This cookie protects against Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF). A CSRF attack forces a logged-on victim’s browser to send a forged HTTP request, including the victim’s session cookie and any other automatically included authentication information, to a vulnerable web application. This allows the attacker to force the victim’s browser to generate requests the vulnerable application thinks are legitimate requests from the victim.

exp_tracker
Tracks the last 5 pages viewed by the user, and is used primarily for redirection after logging in etc. Affects guests and logged in users.

exp_last_activity

Every time the state is updated (the page reloaded) the last activity is set to the current datetime. Used to determine expiry. This is essential for logged in users, but not for guests - it is set for both.

exp_last_visit

Sets the datetime that the user last visited the site, and is set for both guests and logged in users. If not set, is automatically set to 10 years ago. Affects guests and logged in users.

Managing cookies in your browser

Some people prefer not to allow cookies, which is why most browsers give you the ability to manage cookies to suit you.

Some browsers limit or delete cookies, so you may want to review your cookie settings and ads settings. In some browsers you can set up rules to manage cookies on a site-by-site basis, giving you more fine-grained control over your privacy. What this means is that you can disallow cookies from all sites except those that you trust.

Disabling cookies will often result in the website not functioning correctly and in some cases may stop the website functioning at all.

How can I delete and remove cookies?

Cookies are maintained by your web browser, so the method for deleting them will vary depending on which browser you are using. Read more about deleting cookies.