What cookies are used on this website?
As far as I am aware, the following types of cookie are in use on Personality & Spirituality:
Functionality: The website is put together by WordPress, an all-in-one system which organises and displays the web pages, manages user comments, collects visitor statistics, and so on. WordPress is part of a company called Automattic. So there will be some purely functional cookies used by Automattic and the WordPress software to enable those features. They simply help the website run smoothly and efficiently. For informatio about these, see: Automattic Cookies Policy
Others: The website does also use some non-essential cookies:
- Google: There are some cookies that belong to Google and are used to support Google Ads and Google Analytics. For information about these, see: Google Cookies Policy
- Social media: There are also some cookies that belong to social media websites, such as those related to Facebook ‘Like’ buttons.
- Amazon: By participating in the Amazon Associates Program, I can earn commission by linking to products and services sold through Amazon’s online stores (e.g., recommended books).
- Amazon’s own policies prevent cookies being placed in a visitor’s browsers unless they specifically click on one of their links.
- If (and only if) a visitor clicks on an Amazon affiliate link, Amazon sets a 24-hour cookie to keep track of who clicked what, and from which website.
- If that visitor then buys something from Amazon (within 24 hours), I earn a commission.
- Once an order has been placed, or once 24 hours have passed without an order, that cookie is wiped.
Why do I need to know this?
Under GDPR, a directive of the European Union, all websites with EU-based visitors are now legally obliged to declare the use of cookies, and to explicitly ask for informed user consent for the use of cookies, or otherwise allow users to opt out. For further information, see:
- Guide to the cookie law (Sitebeam.net)
- Cookie law blog (Cookielaw.org)
- Wikipedia page on cookies (Wikipedia.org), including the EU directive
What exactly are ‘cookies’?
Cookies are very small text files or data files. They store little bits of information to do with the websites you visit.
What are they for?
Storing data. Some of that data gets passed back to websites, who can then make use of it in various ways.
How do they work?
When you visit a website, especially if it’s for the first time, the website is likely to store one or more text files on your computer via your web browser.
How long do they last?
Some, known as session cookies, are stored only for the duration of your visit to that website.
Others, known as persistent cookies, may be stored more or less permanently.
Are cookies good things or bad things?
Well, they are certainly not harmful like computer viruses.
Many cookies are purely functional. They are used by nearly all websites to ‘remember’ simple details such as which page you were on last, or what items you’ve put in a shopping basket.
Some cookies, however, are more controversial because the data they store and pass on may be regarded as intrusive, especially if you are not aware of them doing so.
In particular, there are some persistent cookies that work like ‘tracking devices’. They can monitor your browsing history and pass that date to advertising companies (so-called “third parties”). This is so that the advertisers can figure out roughly what category of person you are, and then show ads accordingly.
(For example, if you are obviously a young person then they might show fashion ads rather than ads for retirement homes — and vice versa.)
Do I have to have cookies?
No. While web browsers usually accept cookies by default, they can also be set to decline cookies — either all cookies, or just third-party cookies. (There is usually a set of options in the browser’s settings menu.)
You can also delete any persistent cookies from your browser whenever you like.
Note that declining or deleting all cookies will affect those that are purely functional. This can have a negative impact in that it might make the websites you use frequently run less smoothly than you are used to.