Cookie Policy
How The Reference Council uses cookies, what each type does, and the controls you have over them.
Last updated: 12 June 2024
About Cookies
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store. The next time you visit, your browser hands that file back, and the site recognises you — remembering whether you've dismissed a banner, which articles you've read, or that you prefer dark mode.
Cookies fall into two buckets by lifespan. Session cookies live only as long as your browsing session; close the tab and they vanish. Persistent cookies stick around for a set period, sometimes minutes, sometimes months, until they expire or you clear them manually. We use both, and which one applies depends on what the cookie is for.
Types of Cookies in Use
Not every cookie does the same job. Here's the breakdown of what we set and why.
Essential
These keep the site working. They store your consent choices so we don't ask again on every page, and they power core features like navigation and security. You can't switch these off without breaking the experience.
Analytics
Analytics cookies measure traffic and how readers move through the site — which pieces get read end to end, where people drop off. The data is aggregated, so it tells us about patterns rather than individuals.
Advertising
We don't currently run personalised advertising. If that changes, advertising cookies would tailor what you see based on browsing behaviour, and we'd update this policy before any go live.
Third-Party Services
Some cookies come from services we rely on rather than from us directly. We want to be upfront about where they sit, even the ones still on the roadmap.
- Analytics tools (planned): We're evaluating measurement platforms that would set their own cookies to report on readership. None are active yet.
- Ad network integrations (planned): Should we introduce advertising partners, their networks may place cookies to manage delivery and frequency. This remains a future consideration, not a current practice.
- Content delivery networks: CDNs serve images and assets quickly by routing them through servers close to you. These can set technical cookies tied to performance and load balancing.
When a third party is involved, that provider's own policies govern the data their cookies collect alongside ours.
Controlling Cookies
You hold the controls. Every major browser lets you view, block, and delete cookies from its settings menu — usually under Privacy or Security. You can refuse cookies wholesale, accept only first-party ones, or clear everything that's already stored.
Worth knowing: blocking essential cookies has consequences. If you disable the ones that store your consent, you'll see the cookie banner on every visit. Some features may behave oddly or stop working entirely. Analytics and advertising cookies, by contrast, can be turned off with no impact on how the site functions for you.
Browser help pages walk through the exact steps for each program, since the menus differ between Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and the rest.
Updates to This Policy
This policy will change as our practices do — particularly once analytics or advertising move from planned to active. The date at the top of this page always reflects the most recent revision.
For meaningful changes, we'll flag them through the site, whether that's a refreshed banner or a notice on the page itself. Questions about any of this are welcome through our Contact Us page, and you can read how we handle data more broadly in our Privacy Policy.