Cookies

This site sets one cookie. It is set only after you sign in, it exists to keep you signed in, and no cookie of any kind is set if you are just reading.

Not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This page was written from what the software actually does, which is the part an engineer can vouch for. It has not been checked by a qualified adviser.

Legal · Last updated 15 September 2026 · applies to Emo News

This site sets one cookie. It is set only after you sign in, it exists to keep you signed in, and no cookie of any kind is set if you are just reading.

The cookie we set

dispatch_session

Keeps you signed in between page loads, so you can comment, save a story or follow a topic without signing in again on every page. It holds an opaque session token, not your email address, and the server stores only a hash of that token. It cannot be read by scripts on the page, it is sent over HTTPS in production, and it expires after 60 days — or the moment you sign out.

Because it is set only in response to something you asked for — signing in — and is used for nothing else, we treat it as outside the kinds of cookie that require prior consent in the UK and EU. Nothing is set before you sign in, and the site shows no consent banner.

What we do not set

  • No analytics cookie. Page views are counted on our server, not by a script in your browser, which is why there is nothing to consent to and nothing to block. The trade: a reader who blocks analytics is still counted honestly rather than being silently absent from our own numbers.
  • No advertising cookies or third-party cookies. First-party advertisements may appear on the homepage and within articles, but they do not set cookies or use ad networks, pixels or social embeds.
  • No paywall cookie. This site sells no access, so no meter is set — which is why a story page sets nothing at all.

If you would rather not have it

Sign out, or clear cookies for this site in your browser — either removes it. Nothing about reading the site changes, because reading the site has never required it. The only consequence is that commenting, saving and following will ask you to sign in again.

If this changes

Adding analytics, embedded video, a newsletter sign-up form or a paywall could add cookies. If that happens this page is updated in the same change rather than afterwards — a cookie list that is one release out of date is how a consent notice becomes untrue.

Contact

No public contact address has been published for this site yet, so this page cannot give one.