Cookie Policy

In the interest of full transparency, we would encourage you to read the information below on how we utilize cookies on this site. Our cookies policy allows us to show you how we actually collect data, and how this allows us to ensure that you get the best experience when using the site.

This policy highlights everything you need to know about the use of cookies on this site, as well as how you can actually control how cookies are used when using the site. While we have our own standard use of cookies, you can easily block or delete cookies too. All of this is detailed in the relevant sections of this policy.

OUR USE OF COOKIES

As soon as you land on our site, you will immediately be given the choice to accept our standard cookies or pick and choose how they are managed yourself. Note that this will be the case regardless of the browser you visit the site from, and these cookies are simply designed to deliver the best browsing experience possible.

If you choose to consent to these cookies, certain bits of data will be stored regarding browsing activity, but not about you as an individual user. This means no personal data is stored in our system, yet all of this is described in much more detail within our privacy policy.

ABOUT COOKIES

The term ‘cookies’ simply refers to individual text files which are then applied to your browsing device based on the sites you check out. In short, these cookies make your browsing experience a bit more customized, as the mentioned text files will recall font size, language, and other preferences. It’s not just these settings that cookies help to recall either – for they will assist with ensuring that any form of marketing is also relevant based on your activity.

The overarching reason for the cookies used on this site is to ensure your browsing experience is as enjoyable and as relevant as can be. Beyond this fundamental reason, there are individual cookies that are utilized to allow this to happen.

  • Persistent cookies

Persistent cookies are stored on your browser for a predefined period of time. This means that each time you visit the site your preferred settings will remain intact. This helps to avoid the need to constantly toggle preferred settings each time you visit, and it also helps this site to recognize who is visiting the site to ensure that the experience is desirable. Note that these persistent cookies are solely for this site, and they will not affect your experience at other websites that you visit.

  • Session cookies

Unlike persistent cookies, session cookies are simply stored for that specific browsing session. This essentially means that as soon as you exit the website or close your browser, these cookies are no longer stored and therefore no longer relevant to future site visits.

And while these are cookies that are concentrated on lifespan, there are further cookies tailored to our specific URL too:

  • Third-party cookies

These cookies can have an impact on your experience if they have been stored from a third-party site. This can happen when text files overlap, such as JavaScript, although these settings can also be altered manually.

  • First-party cookies

These cookies are specifically established by the server of the page you are checking out, and they are usually based on a shared domain.

With these four identified, they are all stored according to two separate types of cookies:

  • Flash cookies

You can think of flash cookies as a bit of a blanket for your cookie preferences. This is because the settings dictated by flash cookies can be shared for other websites you are browsing on your device, and the information stored is usually much more extensive. Flash cookies tend to store more data points than other kinds of cookies, and these data points are held for a greater length of time.

  • Browser cookies

These cookies tend to be shared through individual websites and held on the browser you are visiting them from. Browser cookies differ from flash cookies as the information isn’t held for a long period of time, and it’s only that specific browser that can actually pull the information from such cookies. This means if you switch up your browser and visit the same website, the settings will not be the same.

WHICH COOKIES DO WE USE AND WHAT IS THEIR PURPOSE?

Including the cookies that we have run through earlier, we also make use of other kinds of cookies to enhance your experience. Note that while the cookies mentioned below have their own individual benefits, the fundamentals tend to coincide with the information already described above.

ESSENTIAL COOKIES

Essential cookies are all to do with the critical elements of running the site to an adequate level of performance. Some of the main elements associated with essential cookies include loading speeds, presentation of site navigation tools, as well as protected areas of the site where additional security is a factor. In short, these essential cookies will ensure effective and desirable delivery of all content of the site, and it is highly recommended that you allow them from your browser.

These cookies do not actually store any information that could potentially identify you as an individual user. As mentioned, they are all about optimizing the browsing experience on this site, therefore no data points are explicitly relevant.

PREFERENCE AND FUNCTIONALITY COOKIES

In contrast to essential cookies that tend to be a ‘one size fits all’, these cookies can contribute to ensuring that you get a somewhat personalized experience. Some of the factors that preference and functionality cookies are associated with include language settings, live chat services, blog comments, and even videos that are shown to you. These are all factors that can be tailored for a more relevant browsing experience.

ANALYTICS COOKIES

Analytics cookies can be extremely useful in monitoring how users interact with various elements of our site, and again, they do not store individual data. This is because all of the data collected is reported anonymously, and this data helps us to make changes to the site for a more optimized experience across the board. Some examples of the data reported are scrolling activities, time spent on certain pages, location of the site visitor, how visitors found the site, and what downloads are initiated from the site.

The analytics cookies used on this site are supplied by Matomo. With that said, there is also the chance that we may use analytics cookies from alternative sources, yet the fundamental uses for these cookies are exactly the same.

THIRD PARTY COOKIES

Third party cookies are those that are not directly under the management of our team, yet they can occasionally be acting on our behalf. Although such cookies are collected by third party resources, they can still help to ensure a better browsing experience. That’s because preferred settings can be implemented onto our site, and this can make advertisements, promoted content, affiliate content, and videos more relevant. Although third party cookies can monitor activity with shared data from alternative web servers, they can often be useful and indeed critical to the performance of individual sites that you visit.

HOW CAN I CHANGE MY COOKIE SETTINGS?

Thanks to integrations with all kinds of web browsers, it is easy to alter your cookie settings. This can be done whenever you like, and there are a few ways you can proceed to make changes to all kinds of cookie settings.

OPT-OUT FROM THIRD PARTY SERVICE WE USE

If you want to opt-out of the cookies supplied by third parties, then you can easily follow through on the information given by the supplier. Matomo has its own information for how you can do this.

CHANGING BROWSER SETTINGS

Almost all web browsers have built-in settings that you can adjust for cookies. While we have covered how you can change browser settings for all of the major internet browsers below, we would still reiterate that cookies are there to improve your web browsing experience. Therefore, if you block or restrict certain kinds of cookies, you might find that content and/or advertisements shown to you are no longer relevant.

However, if you still feel that you would like to restrict certain browser cookies, you can easily run through the instructions provided below to ensure this is done. Note that we have covered all of the most popular browsers here, and it is likely that only one or two will be relevant to your preferred browser use.

  • Google Chrome

While the browser is open, you must navigate to the menu button and hit settings. By scrolling to the very bottom of the page, you should see a link to advanced settings. Make sure you look for content settings, and then simply select the following options:

  • Block websites from holding any of your data
  • Block cookies for set websites by simply looking for the website and hitting the X in the corner of the screen
  • Safari

Open up the Safari browser and follow the settings link, then hit preferences. By clicking through once more to the privacy section, you can open up the cookies tracking. From here, you can pick and choose which cookies you wish to allow or disable, and then you just need to save the changes to apply them immediately.

  • Firefox

Look for the menu link for the Firefox browser, and then follow through to tools. From here, you can click options before finding the privacy settings. By opening up this specific window, you should see the option to remove certain cookies from your browser. Like the other browsers, you can pick and choose the ones you’d like to disable.

  • Internet Explorer

Here you need to click tools, followed by options. Then under the general link, you must navigate to your browsing history, and hit settings. By hitting this button, you should then see the cookies that you are able to disable/change. After setting your preferences, you must click the OK button twice to go back to your browser.

Although this information is relevant for desktop/PC browsers, you may want to take the time to adjust settings on your mobile too (Safari). To find out how you can do this, just follow this link:

More information available here.

HOW TO DISABLE FLASH COOKIES

Having covered the various ways to remove/disable cookies from the different browsers, it’s important to note that by changing these settings on your browser, flash cookies will still remain. If you did want to proceed and make changes to flash cookies, however, you can easily access a guide right here. Once again – by disabling flash cookies your experience could be impacted in a negative way.

VARIATION CLAUSE

Over time, we may need to make changes/alterations to this cookie policy in order to comply with regulations set out by legislative bodies. This can be necessary in order to meet the expectations of the EU Data Protection Law.

These changes can be vast, and they can affect your rights concerning how your personal data is stored and monitored. Some of the modifications you may find include the introduction of new services, as well as updated technologies relating to browsing experience and cookie usage. Any changes made to the policy will need to be accepted by you before they apply to your browsing experience, and we will notify you of this by the relevant channels. In some cases, failure to accept or comply with changes can, unfortunately, lead to restrictions on certain aspects of the site.

Minor updates to this policy can also occur from time, and your continued use of the site indicates a knowledge of the changes made. These changes are often small and usually relate to grammatical/organizational changes to improve reading quality.

We’d highly encourage you to review this policy from time to time to ensure you are fully updated and aware of the most recent policy.