Privacy policy

Default loading, and how to turn it off

Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity and Adsterra ads load on the first view of every page, without waiting for a click. The cookie banner is a notice and a withdrawal control, not a gate: if this browser has no stored choice, the site treats you as having allowed these scripts. Pressing Reject stops the analytics, session-recording and advertising scripts for this page view and stores that refusal for 180 days; later visits then load none of them.

Global Privacy Control is honoured as a refusal. Cookie settings in the footer opens the banner again at any time, so a refusal can be reversed and a grant can be withdrawn. The choice itself lives only in this browser under the localStorage key tg_consent; it is not sent to us.

Google Analytics 4

The site loads Google Analytics 4 with the Measurement ID G-ZS9RKLMB0B. The gtag.js loader comes from www.googletagmanager.com and measurements go to www.google-analytics.com and *.analytics.google.com. GA4 records page views, approximate location derived from IP, device and browser, referral source and basic interaction events. We use it to count readers and see which guides are useful; we do not use it to identify a person.

GA4 can use _ga and _ga_ cookies (a default expiry of up to 2 years, subject to browser limits). Consent Mode v2 starts with ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization denied, analytics_storage granted, and ads_data_redaction enabled before configuration. The script-loading default is separate: no saved choice starts GA4, Clarity and ads immediately. Reject reloads the page and prevents these loaders on subsequent views. The configured property retention has not been independently confirmed; Google documents its available retention controls. You can opt out of GA4 with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Microsoft Clarity

The site loads Microsoft Clarity project z5ozi1ls0e as a session-recording and heatmap tool. The loader comes from www.clarity.ms, the SDK from scripts.clarity.ms and recordings are posted to *.clarity.ms. Clarity records clicks, scrolling, mouse movement and a masked replay of the page; text you type into form fields is masked by default. We use it to find pages that are hard to read or use.

Clarity documents cookies including _clck, _clsk, CLID, ANONCHK, MR, MUID and SM. Which cookies appear and their lifetime depend on region, browser and provider settings. See the linked Clarity cookie list rather than treating this as a complete browser inventory. Reject reloads this document to stop the already-running SDK and blocks its loader on later views; previously transmitted data is not recalled. Microsoft's privacy statement is at https://privacy.microsoft.com/.

Adsterra advertising

The site carries Adsterra inventory for publisher 3403020, website 6161836. Two formats are enabled: Native Banner unit 31998354 (NativeBanner_1) in the page body and Social Bar unit 31998355 (SocialBar_1), the fixed strip at the bottom. The integration record has adult inventory disabled; that setting is not a guarantee about every third-party creative. The Adsterra loader comes from bicea.org and the ads may be served from bicea.org, *.adsterra.com and rotating demand-partner hosts. The browser review records the observed request hosts; the network can change them without a source release.

Adsterra and its demand partners may set advertising cookies and read device information to choose, cap and measure a creative. The names and lifetimes are set by those partners and can change. We have not verified a fixed partner-cookie retention period, so no duration is asserted here. The site itself stores only tg_adbar_closed in localStorage when you press Hide ad bar, so the strip stays closed on later visits. Reject reloads the document, removes the advertising context, and prevents these loaders for 180 days. It does not undo requests already sent before rejection.

You can opt out of personalised advertising through Google Ads Settings at https://adssettings.google.com/, the Digital Advertising Alliance at https://www.aboutads.info/choices/, or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance at https://www.youronlinechoices.com/. Opt-outs are cookie-based, so clearing cookies removes them.

Cookies and localStorage at a glance

The table lists the storage this site and its embedded third parties can create. The consent record and ad-bar dismissal are site-controlled localStorage; analytics vendors can also set first-party cookies on this origin.

Legal basis, retention and your rights

This build starts analytics, recording and ads before a choice is saved. A default-on notice is not affirmative consent. Where prior consent is legally required, this implementation alone does not establish that legal basis. This page describes observed behavior, not a legal compliance certification. Use Reject or Global Privacy Control to disable those scripts. Ad vendors may process data for their own advertising purposes under their policies.

Hosting and network providers can process request logs for delivery and security. Mail to [email protected] is routed by Cloudflare Email Routing to our mail-hub Worker mailbox and can be mirrored to an operator Gmail inbox for replies. Hosting-log and mailbox deletion schedules have not been verified, so we do not promise a fixed retention period. Contact us about deletion; vendor-controlled retention is described in each provider policy.

You can ask for a copy or deletion of the mail we hold, object to processing, or withdraw the on-device choice yourself. Write to [email protected]. You also have the right to complain to your local data-protection authority. We will change this page in the same release that adds or removes a script, and the date at the top will move.

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