Cookies
This page lists what gets stored on your device when you read Boss Battle Blog, and how to stop it.
What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file a site asks your browser to keep, so that something can be remembered between page loads. The same goes for related techniques — local storage, and the identifiers a push service needs. We treat all of them the same way on this page.
The banner, and what it decides
The first time you arrive, a bar at the bottom asks you to accept or decline. Your answer is stored in your browser's local storage under the key bbb-cookie-choice so the bar does not ask again. Declining does not break the site — necessary cookies keep working, and analytics and advertising cookies are not set. You can change your mind by clearing site data in your browser and reloading.
Categories
Necessary — always on
- Cookie choice — remembers whether you accepted or declined. Local storage, stays until you clear it.
- Security and load balancing — set by our host to keep the site up and to filter abusive traffic. Session to 12 months.
These cannot be switched off without breaking the site, and they do not build a profile of you.
Analytics — only if you accept
- Aggregate readership: which reviews get read, roughly where readers are, which device. Typically up to 26 months.
We use this to decide what to write next. It is not used to identify you personally.
Advertising and marketing — only if you accept
- Advertising identifiers set by advertising networks, used to measure whether a promoted game was seen and clicked, and to limit how often the same thing is shown to you. Typically up to 13 months.
- OneSignal — if you submit the subscription form and allow browser notifications, OneSignal stores an identifier for your browser plus the tags we send with it (this domain, the fact the record came from the site form, and any name or phone you typed). This is what makes it possible to send you a note when a review changes. See the privacy policy for the detail, including the transfer to servers in the United States.
Advertising is how this free site pays for itself; the reasoning is set out on the terms page.
How to turn cookies off
- Decline on the banner — analytics and advertising cookies are not set.
- Browser settings — Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge all let you block or delete cookies for a single site, or for all sites. Look for "Privacy" or "Site settings".
- Notifications — the permission lives in your browser, not with us. In Chrome: Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Notifications, then remove this domain. Revoking it stops push immediately.
- Unsubscribe from email — the link is at the foot of every email we send, or write to [email protected].
Blocking everything is fine by us. The reviews are plain HTML and will read exactly the same.
Consent, and where it connects
Your cookie choice and your consent to notifications are separate things. Accepting cookies does not subscribe you to anything, and the subscription form has its own consent box that must be ticked on purpose. Withdrawing one does not withdraw the other — the privacy policy explains how to withdraw each.