Browsers store small files called cookies on behalf of the sites you visit. They are how anything is remembered between page loads. These are the ones Synapsiscoffee puts there, and why.
Revisions
Expect this list to move over time. It is revised whenever the underlying services change, and the revision date sits at the top of the page.
Which cookies are set
- Strictly needed. Without these the page will not load properly, stay secure, or remember that you already answered the cookie prompt.
- Audience statistics. Google Analytics, counted in bulk: which pages hold attention and where readers come from. Nothing that names you.
- Advertising. Cookies set by Google AdSense decide which ads appear and stop the same one following you around.
Lifetime
Lifetimes vary: the technical cookies expire with the session, while Google’s analytics and advertising cookies are kept for a period Google sets, typically counted in months.
The cookies by name
- _ga and _gid come from Google Analytics and exist to tell browsers apart when counting visits.
- __gads and __gpi come from Google AdSense, which uses them to pick ads and limit repeats.
- wordpress_test_cookie and the wp-settings-* family are WordPress internals: a capability check and your display preferences.
- comment_author_* appears only after you comment, and only so the form is pre-filled the next time.
It is worth saying what is absent. No cookie here reaches your files, tracks you outside the browser, or gets sold. None exists to put a name to a reader.
Third-party embeds
An embedded player or map is served by its own operator, and it can set cookies when it loads. Refusing third-party cookies in your browser is what stops that.
Opting out
- To stop personalised ads everywhere, not just here: adssettings.google.com.
- To stop Google Analytics from counting you anywhere: the opt-out browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
- To handle it locally: your browser’s privacy settings block or delete cookies, per site or across the board.
On Do Not Track
We make no claim about Do Not Track: the signal has never been standardised into an obligation. What works is refusing the cookies, by the means listed above.
How consent is recorded
Anything beyond the strictly necessary is set only after you have answered, in the regions where that is required. Your answer is stored in your browser and nowhere else.
How to say no
You can refuse or clear cookies in your browser settings. Removing the essential ones degrades the site; removing the others changes nothing for you as a reader.
Contact
Questions go to the contact page.