Cookie Policy

This page discusses how cookies are used by this site. If you continue to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored on your computer by your web browser at the request of a site you're viewing. This allows the site you're viewing to remember things about you, such as your preferences and history or to keep you logged in.

Cookies may be stored on your computer for a short time (such as only while your browser is open) or for an extended period of time, even years. Cookies not set by this site will not be accessible to us.

Our cookie usage

This site uses cookies for numerous things, including:

  • Registration and maintaining your preferences This includes ensuring that you can stay logged in and keeping the site in the language or appearance that you requested.
  • Analytics. This allows us to determine how people are using the site and improve it.
  • Advertising cookies (possibly third-party). If this site displays advertising, cookies may be set by the advertisers to determine who has viewed an ad or similar things. These cookies may be set by third parties, in which case this site has no ability to read or write them.
  • Other third-party cookies for things like Facebook or Twitter sharing. These cookies will generally be set by the third-party independently, so this site will have no ability to access them.

Additional cookies and those set by third parties

Additional cookies may be set during the use of the site to remember information as certain actions are being performed or to remember certain preferences.

Other cookies may be set by third party service providers which may provide information such as tracking anonymously which users are visiting the site, or set by content embedded into some pages, such as YouTube or other media service providers.

Removing/disabling cookies

Managing your cookies and cookie preferences must be done from within your browser's options/preferences. Here is a list of guides on how to do this for popular browser software:

More information about cookies

To learn more about cookies, and find more information about blocking certain types of cookies, please visit the ICO website Cookies page.

Standard cookies we may set on any of our domain or sub domains

Name Purpose
Essential cookies
These cookies are required to enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may not reject these.
xf___crossTab This local storage item is used to store information used to communicate across tabs, such as the current cross-site request forgery token.
xf_cacheKey This local storage item is used to store the cache key used for offline storage items.
xf_consent This cookie is used to store a user's cookie consent preferences.
xf_csrf This cookie is used to store a user's cross-site request forgery token, preventing other applications from making malicious requests on the user's behalf.
xf_dbWriteForced This cookie is used to indicate that the request should be completed using the write-only database server.
xf_editorDisabled This local storage item is used to store whether or not a user has the rich text editor enabled.
fr-copied-html This local storage item is used to store a user's copied rich text when pasting into the text editor.
fr-copied-text This local storage item is used to store a user's copied plain text when pasting into the text editor.
xf_guestUsername This local storage item is used to store a guest user's username.
xf_inline_mod_* These cookies are used to store a user's currently selected inline moderation items.
xf_language_id This cookie is used to store a user's selected language.
xf_lbSidebarDisabled This local storage item is used to store whether or not a user has toggled the lightbox sidebar.
xf_ls This cookie is used to store a user's local storage contents in the event their browser does not support the native local storage mechanism.
xf_multiQuote* These local storage items are used to store a user's multi-quote selections.
xf_notice_dismiss This cookie is used to store a user's dismissed notices.
xf_push_history_user_ids This local storage item is used to store which users on this device have enabled push notifications.
xf_push_notice_dismiss This cookie is used to determine whether or not a user has dismissed the push notification notice.
xf_push_subscription_updated This cookie is used to determine if a user's push subscription preferences have been updated.
xf_session This cookie is used to store a user's session identifier.
xf_style_id This cookie is used to store a user's selected style.
xf_tfa_trust This cookie is used to determine if a user has previously chosen to trust this device without requiring further two-step verification for a period of time.
xf_toggle This cookie and local storage item are used to store a user's preferences for toggling various controls open or closed.
xf_user This cookie is used to store a user's "remember me" token, allowing their credentials to persist across multiple sessions.
xf_visitorCounts This local storage item is used to store counts of a user's unread conversations and alerts.
Optional cookies
We deliver enhanced functionality for your browsing experience by setting these cookies. If you reject them, enhanced functionality will be unavailable.
xf_emoji_usage This cookie is used to store which emojis a user has recently used when composing a message.
xf_from_search This cookie is used to track when a user has arrived on the site from a search engine.
Third-party cookies
Cookies set by third parties may be required to power functionality in conjunction with various service providers for security, analytics, performance or advertising purposes.
Apple Music These cookies are set by Apple Music, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Dailymotion These cookies are set by Dailymotion, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Facebook These cookies are set by Facebook, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Flickr These cookies are set by Flickr, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Giphy These cookies are set by Giphy, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Google Analytics These cookies are set by Google Analytics, and may be used for analytics.
Google reCAPTCHA These cookies are set by Google reCAPTCHA, and may be used for verifying legitimate traffic.
Imgur These cookies are set by Imgur, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Instagram These cookies are set by Instagram, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Meta These cookies are set by Meta, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Pinterest These cookies are set by Pinterest, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Reddit These cookies are set by Reddit, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
SoundCloud These cookies are set by SoundCloud, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Spotify These cookies are set by Spotify, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
TikTok These cookies are set by TikTok, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Tumblr These cookies are set by Tumblr, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Twitch These cookies are set by Twitch, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Twitter These cookies are set by Twitter, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
Vimeo These cookies are set by Vimeo, and may be used for displaying embedded content.
YouTube These cookies are set by YouTube, and may be used for analytics, verifying legitimate traffic, or other embedded content.