Cookies

A cookie is a short text file that a website asks the browser to store, usually to remember something between page loads — a logged-in state, a language choice, the fact that a reader has already closed a notice. The browser decides whether to accept the request and, if so, sends the file back on every subsequent request to the same site. Cookies cannot run programmes, cannot read other files on the device, and cannot carry a virus; what they can do is identify the browser that saved them, which is why cookie policies exist in the first place. This review desk uses cookies narrowly, only where the alternative would make a feature of the site noticeably worse for the reader. There is no advertising network cookie on this site, no social-media tracker is active on any page, and no third-party JavaScript follows a reader from this site to a different one. If a cookie is set on a visit, it falls into one of three buckets: a session cookie that disappears when the tab closes, a short-lived preference cookie that remembers an interface choice, or an affiliate cookie that credits the referral when the reader clicks through to Slapkong. The next section lists each one in detail.

When a reader clicks a link that leads from this review desk to the Slapkong website, the operator's affiliate programme sets a small cookie in the reader's browser so that, if the click eventually turns into a signup, this site is credited for the referral. The cookie contains a hashed click identifier — not a name, not an email, not a Canadian government number — and expires after thirty days. It does not follow the reader back to this site, does not report back to us on anything the reader does at Slapkong beyond the eventual signup, and does not change the terms of the bonus the reader claims. The affiliate network behind the cookie is listed in the privacy notice, and that notice also sets out what the network keeps about the click. A reader who prefers not to be credited at all can clear cookies before clicking through, open the Slapkong link in a private window, or type the Slapkong URL into the address bar directly instead of following our link; either way the signup still works and the bonus is still valid. We earn a share of revenue from readers who do click through and sign up, and that revenue is what keeps the editorial desk running; this is also why the review and the affiliate cookie are described plainly here rather than hidden in a long legal paragraph.

A short list follows, with the cookie name, its purpose and its lifetime. The session cookie 'sk_ref_sid' stores the state of the contact form while a reader is typing; it is set only on the contact page and expires when the browser tab closes. The preference cookie 'sk_ref_pref' remembers whether a reader has dismissed the age-gate on the homepage; it lives for ninety days and holds a single value — the string 'closed' — and nothing else. The analytics cookie 'sk_ref_aid', which the review desk enables only when a reader has not opted out, is a rotating identifier that keeps a visit grouped as one session across pages; it lives for twenty-four hours and the last octet of the related IP is dropped before any aggregation. The affiliate click cookie 'sk_aff_click' is described in the section above and lives for thirty days. If a browser is set to block third-party cookies, the affiliate cookie still works because it is set by the Slapkong domain, not by this one. To turn off any of these cookies, use the browser settings; the usual path is Settings → Privacy → Cookies, where any cookie set by a specific site can be removed one at a time or in bulk. On Safari the equivalent lives under Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data; on Firefox it is Preferences → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data. Clearing a cookie never deletes anything on the server; it simply tells the server to forget which browser it was talking to.