Use of Cookies
We do use cookies on our sites. These cookies track and measure what is most popular or useful on our site so we can continue to improve our services to you. This information is anonymized so there is no information that identifies you or any other user individually.
We also use this information for analysis, marketing, and promotional activities.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact forms
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
OUR USE OF COOKIES & COOKIE POLICIES
Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small piece of data or a text file that is downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you access certain websites. Cookies may contain text that can be read by the web server that delivered the cookie to you. The text contained in the cookie generally consists of a sequence of letters and numbers that uniquely identifies your computer or mobile device; it may contain other information as well.
By agreeing to accept our use of cookies, you are giving us, and third parties we partner with, permission to place, store, and access some or all the cookies described below on your computer.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for proper functioning of the website, such as displaying content, logging in, validating your session, responding to your request for services, and other functions. Most web browsers can be set to disable the use of cookies. However, if you disable these cookies, you may not be able to access features on our website correctly or at all.
Performance Cookies
These cookies collect information about the use of the website, such as pages visited, traffic sources, users’ interests, content management, and other website measurements.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to remember a user’s choices – such as their language, user name, and other personal choices – while using the website. They can also be used to deliver services, such as letting a user make a blog post, listen to audio, or watch videos on the website.
Media Cookies
These cookies can be used to improve a website’s performance and provide special features and content. They can be placed by third parties who provide services to us or by our company.
Advertising or Targeting Cookies
These cookies are usually placed and used by advertising companies to develop a profile of your browsing interests and serve advertisements on other websites that are related to your interests. You will see less advertising if you disable these cookies.
Session Cookies
These cookies allow websites to link the actions of a user during a browser session. They may be used for a variety of purposes, such as remembering what a user has put in their shopping cart as they browse a website. Session cookies also permit users to be recognized as they navigate a website so that any item or page changes they make are remembered from page to page. Session cookies expire after a browser session; thus, they are not stored long term.
Persistent Cookies
These cookies are stored on a user’s device in between browser sessions, which allows the user’s preferences or actions across a site (or, in some cases, across different sites) to be remembered. Persistent cookies may be used for a variety of purposes, including remembering users’ choices and preferences when using a website or to target advertising to them.
We may also use cookies for:
- Identifying the areas of our website that you have visited
- Personalizing content that you see on our website
- Our website analytics
- Remarketing our products or services to you
- Remembering your preferences, settings, and login details
- Targeted advertising and serving ads relevant to your interests
- Allowing you to post comments
- Allowing you to share content with social networks
Most web browsers can be set to disable the use of cookies. However, if you disable cookies, you may not be able to access features on our website correctly or at all.
Google Ad and Content Network Privacy Notice
Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s past visits to our website. Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visits to our site and/or other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting http://www.aboutads.info/choices/
For European users visit http://www.youronlinechoices.eu
Analytics
Who we share your data with
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.