Cookies.

The short version

A few cookies, none of them advertising trackers.

This site uses a small number of cookies to help me see how many people are reading and to remember basic preferences. None of these cookies are used for advertising. No Meta Pixel, no LinkedIn Insight, no TikTok Pixel, none of those.

What's a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves to your browser. The browser sends the file back to the site each time you visit, so the site can remember things like "Alex is logged in" or "Alex prefers dark mode". Cookies can be useful, neutral, or actively user-hostile depending on what they're used for.

The cookies on this site

Three categories. Each one explained.

Strictly necessary

Name	Purpose	Lifetime
session	Maintains your session if you submit a form (e.g. email capture). Cleared when you close the tab.	Session only

Analytics (anonymous)

Name	Purpose	Lifetime
_ga	Google Analytics, distinguishes one anonymous visitor from another, used for aggregate traffic counts.	2 years
_ga_*	Google Analytics, session state for the analytics script.	2 years

Preferences

Name	Purpose	Lifetime
theme	Remembers your theme preference (light/dark) when that feature ships.	1 year
cookie-banner	Remembers that you've seen and dismissed the cookie notice.	1 year

How to refuse

Your browser is the right place.

You can disable cookies in your browser at any time. Most browsers let you block third-party cookies (which would block Google Analytics here) without affecting first-party cookies (which is what the rest of the cookies on this site are). The site will continue to work fine without analytics, I just won't be able to see how many people read each page.

You can also opt out of Google Analytics specifically by installing Google's browser opt-out add-on.

Changes

If I add or remove cookies, I'll update this list and the "last updated" date at the top.

Questions

Email privacy@davidharbert.com.