Information about our use of cookies
Like most websites, we use cookies to improve your user experience by enabling our site to “remember” you and your settings for your next visit.
A cookie is small text file, stored on your computer or mobile device. It will contain an anonymous identifier so that our site can recognise you when you use the same browser to return.
Cookies do various tasks on our site, like remembering you’re logged in, remembering that you’ve voted in our polls and whether you’ve chosen to hide or show comment replies. We also use cookies to measure traffic to our site. Without a cookie, our site will identify you as a new user on every visit.
This site and our advertisers use cookies to serve you with advertisements that we believe are relevant to you and your interests. You might see these advertisements on this website and on other sites that you visit. However, we do not tell our advertisers who you are.
Advertisers sometimes use their own cookies to provide you with targeted advertising. For example, advertisers may use a profile they have built on sites that you have previously visited to present you with more relevant advertisements during your visit to this website. If you are based in the European Union and would like to learn more about how advertisers use these types of cookies or to choose not to receive them, please visit www.youronlinechoices.eu. If you are based in the United States and would like to learn more, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.
Although cookies are used across almost every site on the internet, some users do not like the idea of this information being stored on their computer. Through your browser settings, it is possible to delete existing cookies and block them from being used in the future. However, this will mean you could lose some functionality on our site – such as the ability for us to remember if you’re logged in.
This website – www.aboutcookies.org – will help you explore your options when it comes to removing and turning off cookies in your browser. We’ve listed links below to all the major browsers and mobile browsers offering instructions on how to change your settings.
Browsers
Internet Explorer
Chrome
Safari
Firefox
Opera
Mobile Devices
Android
Safari
Windows
Blackberry
Types of cookies
We use the following cookies:
Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
Cookie
| Cookie Name | Usage | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| wordpress_logged_in | WordPress cookie for a logged in user. | Session |
| wordpress_test_cookie | WordPress test cookie. | Session |
| csrf | Web Security | Session |
| hide_cookie_bar | Cookie bar | 1 Year |
| __utma | Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | 2 years from set/update |
| __utmt | Used to throttle request rate. | 10 minutes |
| __utmb | Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | 30 mins from set/update |
| __utmc | Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit. | End of browser session |
| __utmz | Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | 6 months from set/update |
| __utmv | Used to store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie is created when a developer uses the _setCustomVar method with a visitor level custom variable. This cookie was also used for the deprecated _setVar method. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | 2 years from set/update |
| _gads | Used by Google AdSense for Ad Serving (eg Frequency Caps) | 12 Years |
| ffs_members | Authentication eg login | 5 Hours |
| FFS | Authentication eg login | Session |
| X-mapping-* | Authentication eg login | Session |
| ffs_rmt_user_id | Rate My Team user data | 1 Day |
Opting Out Of Advertising Cookies
As well as using the information provided on the ‘How to Manage Cookies’ Page, the partner company responsible for serving advertising onto our website have developed a solution for users to opt-out of receiving any further advertising cookies from this site by dropping a final cookie.
This will allow them (the advertising partner) to identify a user as having opted out, and then refrain from serving that user any targeted advertising. Please be aware that this does not mean you will not see advertising, only that adverts will not be targeted to you, the user.
Please be aware of the following before you click the following link –
- Advertising cookies are used to improve the quality and relevance of the advertising being displayed to each visitor
- Advertising cookies are used to identify a browser; advertising cookies do not track individuals and do not gather any personally identifiable information.
This website serves advertising and will continue to do so, even if the user chooses to opt-out.
Once you click the link, another advertising cookie will be delivered to your device in order to identify you as a user that has opted-out. If this cookie is deleted at any time, the user must complete this process again to get the “opt-out” cookie placed on their browser again.
If you would like to drop this final cookie onto your device, please click on the following link – Opt Out of Ad Cookies