What Are Cookies and Why We Use Them

Cookies are small text files that get stored on your device when you visit websites. Think of them as digital bookmarks that help websites remember things about your visit. We use them for several practical reasons.

First, they keep you logged in as you move between pages. Without cookies, you'd have to enter your credentials every single time you clicked a link. That would get old fast.

Second, they remember your preferences. If you've adjusted settings or chosen specific display options, cookies make sure those choices stick around for your next visit.

Third, they help us understand which parts of our site work well and which don't. When we see that people consistently leave from a particular page, that tells us something needs fixing.

Types of Tracking Technologies on Our Site

Session vs Persistent Cookies

Some cookies disappear when you close your browser. We call these session cookies, and they're temporary by nature. Others stick around for weeks or months. These persistent cookies remember you when you come back.

We use both types depending on what we're trying to accomplish. Session cookies handle immediate tasks like keeping you logged in during your visit. Persistent cookies remember your preferences across multiple visits.

How Tracking Enhances Your Experience

Let me give you some concrete examples of what tracking does for you on our site.

When you're reading through our capital allocation resources, tracking helps us suggest related articles you might find useful. If you've been exploring content about portfolio diversification, we can point you toward similar topics without you having to search for them.

Form completion gets easier too. If you started filling out a contact form but didn't finish, cookies remember what you entered. You won't have to start from scratch if you navigate away and come back later.

Performance monitoring is another big one. We track page load times and interaction patterns to identify slowdowns. When our analytics show that a particular section takes too long to load, we can fix it before it frustrates more visitors.

Third-Party Tracking

We're not the only ones setting cookies on your device when you visit our site. Some of our tools and services come from third-party providers, and they use their own tracking technologies.

Analytics platforms help us understand traffic patterns. These services place their own cookies to track visitor behavior across multiple websites, not just ours. This gives them broader data sets to work with.

Content delivery networks that speed up our site also use tracking. They need to know where requests are coming from to serve content from the closest server location.

We vet these third parties before working with them, but you should know that they have their own privacy policies and data practices. We can't control what they do with the information they collect.

Browser-Specific Instructions

Each browser handles cookie management a bit differently. Here's where to look in the most popular ones.

Chrome

Click the three dots in the top right, go to Settings, then Privacy and Security, and finally Cookies and other site data. You can see all stored cookies and delete specific ones or set rules for how Chrome handles them.

Firefox

Open the menu, select Settings, then Privacy & Security in the left sidebar. The Cookies and Site Data section lets you manage everything. Firefox also has enhanced tracking protection that blocks many third-party cookies by default.

Safari

Go to Preferences, click Privacy, and you'll see options for blocking cookies and website tracking. Safari is pretty aggressive about privacy by default and already blocks most third-party cookies.

Edge

Click the three dots, select Settings, go to Cookies and site permissions, then Manage and delete cookies and site data. Edge uses similar controls to Chrome since they share underlying technology.

Data Retention and Storage

Different cookies stick around for different lengths of time. Session cookies vanish when you close your browser, no questions asked.

Persistent cookies have expiration dates built in. Some last a few days, others might stick around for months or even a year. We set these timeframes based on what makes sense for each cookie's purpose.

For example, a cookie that remembers your language preference might last six months because that setting doesn't change often. But a cookie tracking your current session activity expires much sooner since that data becomes irrelevant quickly.

You can delete any cookie manually through your browser settings at any time. This wipes out all stored information associated with that cookie, regardless of its intended expiration date.

Mobile Device Considerations

Cookies work a bit differently on mobile devices. Mobile browsers still support them, but you'll find the settings in different places depending on your device and browser app.

Many mobile apps also use similar tracking technologies, though technically they're not cookies in the traditional sense. These might be called identifiers or tokens, but they serve similar purposes.

Both iOS and Android give you system-level controls over ad tracking. On iPhone, look for "Limit Ad Tracking" or "Allow Apps to Request to Track" in your Settings under Privacy. Android has similar options under Google Settings and Ads.

Mobile tracking gets more complex because apps can share data across platforms. A mobile app might sync with the website version, and both use tracking to maintain that connection.

Changes to This Policy

We update this policy periodically as our tracking practices evolve or regulations change. When we make significant changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page.

For major revisions, we might also post a notice on our homepage or send an email to registered users. But it's a good idea to check back here occasionally, especially if you're particular about how your data gets used.

Continuing to use taplynetworks.com after we've posted changes means you accept the updated terms. If you disagree with any changes, your option is to stop using the site or adjust your browser settings to block our cookies entirely.