Why have cookies pop up?

Alvin63

Well-known member
I noticed some Xenforo sites and other forums have a “accept cookies” pop up. Can someone explain what the advantage /purpose is of having this? Is it related to advertising? Eg what is the benefit to a forum?
 
I noticed some Xenforo sites and other forums have a “accept cookies” pop up. Can someone explain what the advantage /purpose is of having this? Is it related to advertising? Eg what is the benefit to a forum?
You will find that it is a requirement if you're from the European side of the world.
 
Cookie Monster Eating GIF by Sesame Street
 
Just from my-(very)-limited understanding of cookies, I'm under the impression that-(basically)-in most cases cookies primary purpose is for improving general website functionality by essentially serving as "checkpoints" saved on whichever device one uses.

Whether that's an accurate view, I honestly don't know, and obviously this wouldn't seem to explain the reasoning for EU requirements of cookie consent.

What reason could there be for such a serious concern if cookies are sort of like checkpoints(?)

Could it be that perhaps not all cookies serve such a practical purpose(?)

Maybe some unscrupulous websites utilize cookies which do not simply serve to improve website functionality and instead serve alterior purposes that have nothing to do with the website's functionality, for example, tracking activity on a device &/or harvesting various other data(?)

In such a case, and in light of EU legal requisites, it would appear as if to suggest an industry wide standard exists which legally allows the practice of proactively efforting for infesting our devices with non-site-critical cookies.

If this weren't so, and the industry wide legal standard practice was that of only allowing & using the necessary website cookies for improving functionality, then there would be no need for the EU requirements of those annoying legal contract/cookie notices.

But again, I really don't know.
This is merely a speculative opinion.
Perhaps those more knowledgeable would be willing to provide clarification in their own words.
 
So it’s a requirement if you collect cookies. Do I collect cookies? 🤣
I honestly can't stand the cookie notices.

😂I've found that occasionally, once becoming aware of basic cookies being used, some members may react surprisingly offended.

In the year or so I've been learning how to admin thus far, there have been 3 members who suddenly presented particularly extreme reactions to the revelation of cookies. I mean, they each went ballistic, apparently believing I had deliberately & covertly infested their devices with cookies for nefarious purposes.

Tbh in all 3 cases I found their behaviour & accusations utterly absurd and pretty bloody hilarious. Considering they had to have interacted with the cookie notice.


Here's a helpful resource you may find useful in case you ever wanted to provide your members with an additional option or would like to customize your site's cookies notice.

 
The drama isn’t cookies as a fundamental technology - they’re just small text files that get ferried between your computer and sites.

The drama is the stash of cookies used to work out if you’re being tracked and profiled. The advertisers and marketers loved the fact they could profile you, know where you’d been and use that to advertise more specifically to you, without having to tell you they were watching you. Then the EU told them “hey, maybe tone it down a bit, or if you are going to, you better tell users you’re doing it”.

Notice how so many sites would rather let advertisers keep tracking you than to turn off the taps.

(If all you have are the cookies that are technically required to make a site work, and they are for logins, you don’t actually need a cookie banner. But tracking cookies aren’t “technically required”.)
 
Thanks. So presumably I don't need a cookies banner then or Xenforo would have told me/made it an option?
Xenforo doesn't check your local laws and determine whether to turn this setting on. That's up to you to check and enable. Not all XF cookies are strictly required, and may require consent where you are located.
 
Thanks. Is there something within xenforo that allows you to turn on a cookies popup/requirement? Or is it something I have to sort out myself?
 
I honestly can't stand the cookie notices.

😂I've found that occasionally, once becoming aware of basic cookies being used, some members may react surprisingly offended.

In the year or so I've been learning how to admin thus far, there have been 3 members who suddenly presented particularly extreme reactions to the revelation of cookies. I mean, they each went ballistic, apparently believing I had deliberately & covertly infested their devices with cookies for nefarious purposes.

Tbh in all 3 cases I found their behaviour & accusations utterly absurd and pretty bloody hilarious. Considering they had to have interacted with the cookie notice.


Here's a helpful resource you may find useful in case you ever wanted to provide your members with an additional option or would like to customize your site's cookies notice.

Thanks that is really helpful :-)
 
.gov.uk says this

"Option 1: If you’re only using essential cookies

You can choose not to have a cookie banner if the service only sets essential or ‘strictly necessary’ cookies, as these do not need user consent.


However, you must tell users that you set essential cookies. You can do this with a cookies page – link to this page in the footer."


So I assume, if I just have a straight forum and no adverts, that I'm only using "strictly necessary" cookies?
 
.gov.uk says this

"Option 1: If you’re only using essential cookies

You can choose not to have a cookie banner if the service only sets essential or ‘strictly necessary’ cookies, as these do not need user consent.


However, you must tell users that you set essential cookies. You can do this with a cookies page – link to this page in the footer."

So I assume, if I just have a straight forum and no adverts, that I'm only using "strictly necessary" cookies?
. . . 🤔woah, yeah, that's rather interesting to learn. Seems like you're on to something here mate.

I'm now wondering how/where we might be able to set the cookies.

Not sure what it means by a link to a cookies page in the footer - as in where would the page be/how would you create it?
I'm not too sure where the cookies page might be, or how to edit/create one.

I had a quick look around, although I've just woken up and am still getting my bearings. As far as I can currently tell, there's a link to a cookies thing in the ACP (*left)-menu under *Communication > *Help Pages > *Cookies Usage, but it doesn't appear to be the actual cookies page. Tbh I'm not sure what it is.

But the cookies link in the footer looks like this...
Screenshot_2024-04-06-07-27-19-73_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.webp
And here's the cookies options XF has available for users to decide...
Screenshot_2024-04-06-07-26-19-27_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.webp

Seems we(as Admins) should somehow be able to choose which types to enable aye(?)

I'd like to only enable *Essential & maybe also *Optional too.
Not sure though, but if I find anything I'll let you know asap.
 
Not sure what it means by a link to a cookies page in the footer - as in where would the page be/how would you create it?
Was just reading another thread within which the discussion seems to suggest that some minor template edits may possibly be necessary to define which cookies are used.

Post in thread 'Consent Management' https://xenforo.com/community/threads/consent-management.210939/post-1604313

It's still not clear to me yet whether:

(*Under ACP > *Basic Options > *Cookies Consent)

•Disabled = Strictly *Essential cookies only(?)
•Simple = *Essential &/or *Optional cookies(?)
•Advanced(Beta) = *Essential &/or *Optional &/or *Third Party(?)

I'm unsure because the (typically) vague language used in the ACP is far too ambiguous. Nothing definitive.
Reads like a shibbolethic legal minion authored it.
Screenshot_2024-04-06-08-23-45-09_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.webp
 
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