Counting visits

The first time you open a page, this site sets two cookies that the page's scripts cannot read: sln_vid, a random code that lets the site tell one browser's visits from another's, and sln_visitor, which only records that this browser has been here before. Both last five years.

While you read, the page sends this site a short record of what you did: the page you opened, the address of the page that sent you here (with any personal link codes removed), a code for this visit that your browser keeps until you close the tab (sln_sid), your browser's description of itself, your screen and window sizes, language and time zone, the area you chose to see news for, which links you click and their text, and how long you stayed and how far you scrolled. Records from programs that say they are robots are dropped.

These records are kept in this site's own database with the sln_vid code. Your IP address is not stored with them. They are not deleted automatically.

360REV, the platform that runs this site, receives daily totals worked out from them: page views, visitors, visits, link clicks and the average time on a page. A service this site's owner gives a key to can also read the records themselves, without your browser's description.

This counting does not read Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control. To switch it off for this browser, see the last section of this page.

Google Analytics

Every page loads Google Analytics (measurement ID G-ZZWYSL4S37) from Google. It reports your visit to Google, which handles it under Google's own privacy policy and sets its own cookies to do so. If you have switched counting off for this browser, the page tells Google Analytics to send nothing; its script still loads.

360REV

Every page loads three scripts from app.360rev.com, run by 360REV, the platform that runs this site. The main one reports each page you open to 360REV without setting a cookie, and starts 360REV's Matomo analytics, which is also set not to use cookies. On this site it does not read Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control; the switch at the end of this page stops it.

When you send a form that asks for your email address, such as the contact form, that script also sends 360REV a copy of what you typed (never a password or a card number), with the page you were on and the website that sent you to it.

The other two scripts are the newsletter sign-up box, which sets no cookie and counts nothing, and the events features described under Events below.

Your location

If you type a ZIP code to see local news, your browser looks it up at zippopotam.us, a free postcode service, which receives the ZIP code. If you choose to use your current location, your browser first asks your permission, then sends your coordinates to bigdatacloud.net to find your town. The place you chose is kept in your browser's storage so the site remembers it, and it appears in the page address so the front page can show your area. If you close the location question, a cookie, sln_loc_prompt_dismissed, stops it appearing again for 60 days.

On the Events pages, this site passes your IP address to 360REV so it can show events near you first. 360REV works out your approximate city, county or state from it on its own server, without contacting any outside service, uses it only for that page and does not store it.

The newsletter

If you sign up, we keep your email address, your ZIP code and how often you want to hear from us, and anything you later add on your profile page: your first and last name, phone number and the topics you prefer. An age range and gender, which an earlier version of that page asked for, are kept if you gave them then. Nothing is sent until you confirm with the link we email you. Your details go to 360REV, which sends the newsletter for us, and every edition has a one-click unsubscribe link.

Writing to us

If you use the contact form, we keep what you wrote and the details the form asks for, such as your email address and, if you give them, your name, phone number and organisation. With it we keep how you reached the page (any campaign tags, and the website that sent you), your language, whether you used a phone, tablet or computer, your time zone and window size, and how long you took to write. It goes to 360REV, where we read and answer it. Your IP address is used only to stop floods of messages, in memory, and is not kept.

Events

If you list an event, you give us your name and email address, and your organisation if you wish, and we email you a 6-digit code to confirm the address. After that, a sign-in token is kept in your browser's storage (not a cookie) for up to 30 days, and signing out removes it. The listing, your details and our editors' decisions are kept for us by 360REV, which also keeps you as a contact in our customer records. If you report a listing, what you write is kept too. You can delete your organizer account from My events at any time.

When an event's page is opened or its Register button is used, 360REV counts it, unless you have switched counting off.

Sponsored events

If you promote an event, you pay on a payment page run by Stripe for this site: your card details go to Stripe, never to us. Sponsored event tiles on our pages are shown by 360REV's events script, which keeps the list of tiles in this browser tab for up to a minute and tells 360REV, without setting a cookie, when a tile has been half on your screen for a second. When you click a tile, our server tells 360REV, which counts a click only once a day by keeping a code made from your address and browser, used only for that, and deleted after two days. Nothing is counted if your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, or if you asked not to be counted.

Pictures and puzzles

Pictures beside headlines are loaded straight from the publishers who own them, so your browser contacts their websites; on a story's own page it does so without telling them which page you were on. Your progress on the puzzles is kept only in your browser.

The server's log

Like any website, the server that delivers these pages writes each request, with your IP address, to its log.

Not being counted

Add ?rev360=ignore to any address on this site to stop this browser being counted. It sets one cookie, rev360_ignore, and keeps the same note in your browser's storage. From then on this site's own counting, Google Analytics, 360REV's script and the event and sponsored-tile counts record nothing from this browser. The sln_vid and sln_visitor cookies are still set, but no visit is recorded. ?rev360=count switches counting back on. Forms you send still go through, because sending them is your choice.