Reserchers is a research site. There is no account to create, nothing to buy on the site itself, and no reason for us to build a profile of you. The sections below describe every category of data that reaches us or one of our processors, and what you can do about each one.
Who is responsible for this site
Reserchers is an independent publication edited byDavid Richards. It is the data controller for the processing described here. Privacy questions, access requests, and deletion requests go to[email protected] and are answered by a person.
Server logs
The site runs on Cloudflare Pages. Every request is recorded server-side so we can tell readers apart from crawlers, see which guides get used, and notice an outage or an attack. Each record holds the requested path, the HTTP method, a timestamp, the browser's user-agent string, the referring URL if the browser sent one, and the country Cloudflare resolved from the network connection.
Your IP address is not stored. It is combined with a fixed secret, hashed with SHA-256, and truncated before it is written, which leaves a short value that distinguishes one visitor from another without being reversible to an address. This log runs entirely on the server: it sets no cookies, writes nothing to your browser, needs no JavaScript, and does not follow you to any other website. Cloudflare also processes request data as our hosting and security provider under its ownprivacy policy.
Performance measurement
We also use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which loads a small script (beacon.min.js) from static.cloudflareinsights.comon each page. Its job is to report how quickly the page actually rendered for you — load timings and the Core Web Vitals metrics — along with the page address, the landing page, and the referring URL. It reports once the page has loaded and again when you leave.
It sets no cookies and uses no local storage, session storage, or IndexedDB; the timing data it reads exists only in memory for the page you are on. Cloudflare does not use it to fingerprint you, does not record query strings, and does not track individuals across other sites that use the same product. It keeps detailed data for 7 days and aggregated data after that. Cloudflare's own account of the beacon is in itsRUM beacon documentation.
Advertising
This site is monetised in part by display advertising served through Google AdSense.Advertising is what keeps the research free to read, and it has no influence over which products we cover or how we rank them. That commitment is set out in the editorial policy.
Google's advertising products work as follows:
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website or other websites.
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
- Users may opt out of personalised advertising by visitingGoogle Ad Settings. Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising ataboutads.infooroptout.networkadvertising.org.
Google and the third-party advertising vendors it works with may place and read cookies on your browser, or use web beacons, device identifiers, and IP addresses, to collect information as a result of serving ads here. The companies that may serve ads on this site are Google's certified advertising partners; the current list, and details of what each one does with the data, is published atGoogle's advertising cookies page. Google's own account of what it collects when you use a publisher's site is atHow Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Opting out of personalised advertising does not remove advertising. It means the ads you see are chosen from the page you are reading rather than from a profile of your browsing history.
Consent, and readers in Europe and the UK
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, a consent banner appears before any advertising or analytics cookie is set. It is served by a consent management platform certified by Google under the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework, and it records your answer so it can be honoured on later visits. You can decline personalised advertising and continue reading the site normally.
To change or withdraw a choice you have already made, reopen the privacy settings link in the site footer, or clear this site's cookies in your browser to be asked again. Thecookie policy lists what each cookie category covers.
Readers in California and other US states
We do not sell personal information for money, and we do not knowingly process the personal information of anyone under 16. Serving personalised advertising can qualify as "sharing" or as a sale under some state privacy laws, so those signals are handled the way the laws require: when your browser or a consent framework sends an opt-out signal — includingGlobal Privacy Controlor a Global Privacy Platform string — Google applies restricted data processing and serves only non-personalised ads.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what personal information we hold, to have it deleted, to correct it, to opt out of targeted advertising, and not to be treated differently for exercising any of those rights. Email[email protected] and we will act on the request.
Your rights under the GDPR and UK GDPR
Where the GDPR applies, our lawful basis for advertising and analytics cookies is your consent, and our lawful basis for security logging and sending an email you asked for is legitimate interest in operating the site safely and honouring your request. You have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your data, to object to processing, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting anything done before you withdrew it. You may also complain to your national data protection authority.
The email briefing
Subscribing is optional and requires only an email address. We use it to send the briefing and nothing else. We do not sell, rent, or trade the list, and every message carries a one-click unsubscribe link. If a third-party email provider handles delivery, it processes the address on our instructions and under contract. Unsubscribing removes you from future sends, and asking us to delete the address removes it entirely.
Links to other sites
Guides on this site link to vendor documentation, pricing pages, and other sources, and some outbound product links may earn a commission as described in the affiliate disclosure. Once you follow a link, that site's own privacy policy governs what it collects. We have no control over and take no responsibility for the practices of sites we link to.
Retention
Request logs are kept for up to 24 months and then deleted; they are used for measurement and security, not to identify individuals. Cloudflare keeps detailed performance-beacon data for 7 days and aggregated data after that. Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe or ask for deletion. Cookies set by advertising partners expire according to their own schedules, which their policies document.
Children
This site is written for people running a business and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, email us and it will be deleted.
Changes to this policy
When practices change, this page is updated and the date at the top changes with it. A change that materially expands what we collect will be announced in the briefing before it takes effect. Earlier versions are visible in this site's public source history.
Contact
Privacy questions, access requests, and deletion requests:[email protected]. General enquiries go through the contact page.