1. Essential cookies
ProofForum uses a first-party PHP session cookie for authentication, CSRF protection and security-sensitive workflows. If you choose Stay signed in, a separate first-party remember-me cookie keeps that login available on the device. These cookies are required for the requested account features and are not advertising cookies.
2. Optional first-party analytics
If you choose Accept analytics, ProofForum sends same-origin analytics events to its own server and stores first-party statistics in the ProofForum database. These statistics can include page views, unique/first-time or returning browser counts, device category, browser family, operating platform, screen size, language, time zone, referral host, source/medium, UTM campaign data, search-engine/source information when the browser actually supplies it, and approximate country/region/city only when the hosting/CDN already provides those coarse location headers. Audience/acquisition dimensions are counted on the first page of an analytics session rather than on every page view, so a visitor reading many pages does not multiply those dimensions.
For a signed-in user who has accepted analytics, ProofForum may also aggregate an age band derived from the date of birth already held for the account and the account's registered country. These are aggregate dimensions only. ProofForum does not infer or collect visitor gender for analytics.
ProofForum does not use Google Analytics, advertising cookies, cross-site advertising profiles or third-party analytics accounts in this configuration. Search engines often do not provide the exact organic search phrase, so ProofForum records a search term only when it is actually present in a referral URL or campaign parameter.
Crawler counts do not use analytics cookies. On dynamic public repository surfaces, a request whose User-Agent identifies a recognized crawler (for example Googlebot or Bingbot) may increment an aggregate operational counter containing only the crawler family and coarse surface. The analytics table does not retain the request IP address or full User-Agent for this count, and the figure is only an estimate because User-Agent strings can be spoofed.
3. Your choice
The cookie preference itself is stored in pf_cookie_consent so the site can remember whether you chose Essential only or Accept analytics. If analytics are accepted, pf_analytics_id stores a random browser identifier used only to deduplicate unique visits across days. The raw value stays in the browser; the server stores only a keyed HMAC representation. pf_analytics_session is a sliding 30-minute first-party marker used to count an acquisition/audience entry once per analytics session. Compatibility cookies pf_analytics_day and pf_analytics_seen may be used only if the current visitor-deduplication tables are temporarily unavailable. A consented request to the same-origin analytics endpoint may also initialize ProofForum's normal PHP session cookie while that request is processed. These cookies are first-party and are not used for advertising or cross-site tracking.
You can change your choice at any time using the Cookie settings control below. Rejecting analytics does not prevent registration, login, browsing, submission or review features.
4. Cookies used by ProofForum
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
proofforum_session | Authentication, CSRF/security-sensitive workflows and same-origin request state. | Browser session, subject to server idle/absolute limits. |
pf_remember | Only when the user selects Stay signed in. Contains a random selector and secret token; the database stores the secret only as a hash. | Up to 30 days or earlier revocation/logout/reset. |
pf_cookie_consent | Remembers Essential only or Accept analytics. | Up to 1 year. |
pf_analytics_id | Optional random first-party browser identifier used to deduplicate unique visitors. The raw value is not stored in the analytics database; the server stores only a keyed HMAC. | Up to about 400 days of analytics inactivity; refreshed on consented analytics activity. |
pf_analytics_session | Optional session marker used to count audience/acquisition dimensions once at the start of an analytics session instead of once per page. | 30 minutes from the latest consented page view. |
pf_analytics_day | Compatibility fallback for daily deduplication if the current visitor tables are unavailable. | Up to about 400 days; its value is only a date. |
pf_analytics_seen | Compatibility fallback for first-time/returning counts if the current visitor tables are unavailable. | Up to about 400 days. |
5. Aggregate retention and data minimisation
Analytics event counters are stored as aggregate daily totals. For unique-visitor deduplication, ProofForum stores only a keyed HMAC of the random analytics identifier plus first/last-seen dates and daily presence; the raw identifier, IP address and full user-agent string are not stored in the analytics tables. Visitor-deduplication records are periodically removed after about 400 days of inactivity. Search-query analytics use filtering designed to exclude likely email/contact data, URLs/domains, IP addresses, dates, phone-like values and long numeric identifiers. Registered-user age bands and registered account country may be counted in aggregate only on a consented signed-in visit.
6. Security attributes
Authentication cookies use first-party paths, HttpOnly where applicable, SameSite=Lax, and the Secure flag when ProofForum is served over HTTPS. Persistent sign-in tokens are random, revocable and rotated after successful remembered login.
7. Browser controls
You can also delete or block cookies using browser controls. Blocking the session cookie will prevent authenticated ProofForum features from working. Analytics remain optional.
8. Changes
This policy will be updated if ProofForum changes the cookies or similar technologies it uses.
9. Contact
Questions about cookies or privacy: proofforum@hotmail.com.