What Cookies and Local Storage Are
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to keep, so that something can be remembered from one page or visit to the next. Local storage is a closely related place in your browser where a site can hold a small amount of information on your own device. Both live with you, not with us, until they expire or you clear them.
On their own these are ordinary, everyday parts of how the modern web works. What matters is what a site chooses to put in them, and how long it keeps it. This page sets out exactly what this Site keeps, where it lives, and why.
The short version: this Site uses only what it genuinely needs to function. There is nothing here that follows you around the web, and nothing that builds a profile of you for advertising.
How This Site Uses Them
This Site uses essential storage only. Essential means the Site needs it to do the basic things you came here to do, and nothing more. There are precisely two purposes, and both are described in full in their own sections below.
- Your sign-in session. So that, once you sign in, you stay signed in as you move around the Site, rather than being asked to prove who you are on every page.
- Your theme preference. So the Site remembers whether you prefer light or dark, and opens the way you last left it.
That is the whole list. There are no marketing cookies, no advertising cookies, and no cross-site trackers. We do not set anything for the purpose of profiling you, and we do not need your consent to a banner full of optional trackers, because there are none to consent to.
The following gives a plain, at-a-glance overview of what is stored and the reason for it.
| What is stored | Why it is needed |
|---|---|
| Your sign-in session token (Supabase authentication) | So you stay signed in across pages and visits without signing in again each time |
Your light or dark theme choice (stored under dc-theme) |
So the Site opens in the appearance you chose |
| Nothing for advertising, retargeting, or cross-site tracking | We do not run any of these, so none is set |
Your Sign-In Session
If you choose to sign in, this Site uses Supabase for authentication. When your sign-in succeeds, Supabase keeps a session token in your browser so the Site can recognise you on the next page without asking you to sign in again. This is the same kind of essential session storage every site with accounts relies on.
The token exists for one job: to prove, to the Site, that this browser is signed in as you. It is what lets you leave a like or a comment and have it attributed to your account. It is not used to follow you onto other websites, because it cannot: it is specific to this Site.
The session is cleared when you sign out. If you sign out, or clear your browser's storage for this Site, the token is gone and you will simply be signed in again the next time you choose to. There is no separate copy of it held anywhere for tracking purposes.
Theme Preference
This Site can be read in light or dark. When you switch between them, your choice is saved in your browser's local storage so the Site can honour it the next time you arrive, rather than resetting every visit.
This preference is deliberately tiny and entirely local. It:
- holds only the single value light or dark;
- is stored under the key
dc-themein your browser; - is never sent to any server, and is never used to identify you;
- persists until you change your theme again or clear your browser's data for this Site.
If you clear it, nothing breaks. The Site simply opens in its default appearance until you choose a theme again.
No Advertising or Tracking Cookies
This Site does not run advertising cookies, retargeting pixels, social media trackers, fingerprinting, or any third-party technology whose purpose is to follow you across the web. We do not build advertising profiles, and we do not sell or rent your data to anyone.
Because there is nothing of that kind to manage, you will not find a "Cookie Preferences" panel or a "Do Not Sell My Information" control on this Site. There is simply nothing to switch off. The only storage in play is the essential session and theme described above.
If that ever changes, this is the page that would change with it, and the "Last updated" date would move to reflect it.
Third Party Services
A small number of trusted providers help this Site work. Each has its own practices, which you are welcome to review:
- Supabase, which provides accounts, authentication, and the database behind your likes and comments. The sign-in session described above is set by Supabase. See Supabase's Privacy Policy.
- Analytics, if used, are kept privacy-friendly and cookieless. The Site uses Plausible Analytics, which sets no cookies, stores no personal data, and does not track you across sites; it reports only aggregate, anonymous traffic counts.
These providers handle information only to deliver their service to us. If you follow a link from this Site to somewhere else, that destination sets its own cookies under its own policy, which is outside our control.
Managing and Clearing Cookies
You are always in control of what your browser keeps. Every modern browser lets you view, clear, or block cookies and local storage, usually under Settings, then Privacy or Site Data. You can clear everything for this Site specifically, or block storage entirely, at any time.
Because this Site keeps so little, the effect of clearing is small and easy to predict:
- Clearing the session signs you out. You will stay signed out until you choose to sign in again.
- Clearing the theme preference returns the Site to its default appearance until you pick a theme again.
- Blocking storage altogether mainly affects staying signed in: without it, the Site cannot remember your session, so account features such as liking and commenting will not work. Reading, viewing photography, and playing video do not require any of this.
In other words, you can browse this Site with storage fully blocked. The only thing you give up is the convenience of staying signed in and of having your theme remembered.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in how the Site works, the providers it relies on, or the law that applies to us. When we do, we revise the "Last updated" date shown at the top of this page, so that date always reflects the current version.
If a change is significant, we will make a reasonable effort to bring it to your attention. Your continued use of the Site after an update takes effect means you accept the revised policy, and we encourage you to glance back here now and then so you always know what is kept and why.