Cookie Notice

Last Updated: April 26, 2023

The Centre for Effective Altruism ("CEA", "we" or "us") is a project of the Effective Ventures group — the umbrella term for Effective Ventures Foundation and Effective Ventures Foundation USA, Inc., which are two separate legal entities that work together. Under UK law, the Effective Ventures Foundation is the “data controller” for the personal data that we collect and process.

We use cookies on the EA Forum. This cookie notice applies only to the EA Forum. You may access and change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking here.

If you choose to reject cookies you are ultimately responsible for removing any that have already been set (such as if you previously accepted). See the instructions for doing so here.

This cookie notice is different to the cookie notice that covers other Effective Ventures Foundation websites. You can see the Effective Ventures Foundation cookie notice here.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes a unique identifier. Cookies are created when your browser loads a particular website. The website sends information to the browser which then creates a text file. Every time you go back to the same website, the browser retrieves and sends this file to the website's server. Find out more about the use of cookies on www.allaboutcookies.org.

We also use other forms of technology (such as pixels and web beacons and, in apps, software development kits (usually referred to as SDKs)) which serve a similar purpose to cookies and which allow us to monitor and improve our Platforms and email communications. When we talk about cookies in this notice, this term includes these similar technologies.

Your use of our Platforms may result in some cookies being stored that are not controlled by us. This may occur when the part of the Platform you are visiting makes use of a third party analytics or marketing automation/management tool or includes content displayed from a third party website, for example, YouTube or Facebook. You should review the privacy and cookie policies of these services to find out how these third parties use cookies and whether your cookie data will be transferred to a third country. We've set out below which third party cookies we use.

What cookies do we use and what information do they collect?

Necessary cookies: these cookies are required to enable core functionality. This includes technologies that allow you access to our websites, services, applications, and tools; that are required to identify irregular site behaviour, prevent fraudulent activity and improve security; or that allow you to make use of our functions such as making donations, saved search or similar functions. These cookies expire after 24 months.

The cookies we use in this category are:

Set by us

NameDescription
cookie_preferencesStores the current cookie preferences (set by the user, or automatically if outside a country subject to GDPR)
cookie_consent_timestampStores the time at which the user set their cookie preferences (once this is set the cookie preferences will never be changed automatically)
clientIdA unique identifier for this browser
loginTokenThe user's login token
timezoneStores the user's timezone
themeStores the user's theme preferences
hide_featured_resourceControls whether the featured resource banner in the left sidebar is hidden
show_community_posts_sectionWhether to show the community posts section on the EA Forum home page
show_quick_takes_sectionWhether to show the quick takes section on the EA Forum home page
show_quick_takes_communityWhether to include quick takes tagged with community in the home page quick takes section
show_popular_comments_sectionWhether to show the popular comments section on the EA Forum home page
hide_home_handbookWhether to hide the EA Handbook on the EA Forum home page
show_post_podcast_playerWhether to show the podcast player on a posts pages
podcast_tooltip_seenStores whether the user has seen the podcast 'new feature' tooltip
hide_welcome_boxControls whether the welcome box on a post page is hidden
hideMapFromFrontpageStores whether the user has hidden the map from the frontpage.
hide_collection_item_[*]Stores whether a collection item has been hidden (for a specific collection item id)
hide_spotlight_item_[*]Stores whether a spotlight item has been hidden (for a specific spotlight item id)
hide_forum_event_banner_[*]Stores whether a forum event banner has been hidden
show_recommendations_sectionControls whether the recommendations ('Classic posts') section on the frontpage is shown or hidden
hide_import_eag_profileControls whether the EAG profile import banner is shown or hidden on the edit profile page
hide_more_from_the_forum_recommendationsDon't show the "More from the forum" recommendations section
hide_new_post_how_to_guideDon't show the how-to guide on the new post page
hide_2021_book_bannerDon't show the 2021 book banner
new_posts_list_view_toggleTracks whether or not to show the "NEW" flag on the posts list view toggle
posts_list_view_typeWhether to display post lists as list items or card items
hide_subscribed_feed_suggested_usersWhether to hide the suggested users section on the subscribed tab feed
hide_survey_schedule_idsStores the ids of survey schedules that the user has hidden
hide_eag_bannerDon't show any EAG(x) banners
hide_ea_forum_survey_bannerDon't show the EA Forum survey banner
nav_menu_flag_[*]Whether or not to show particular flags in the main navigation menu

Set by Google

NameDescription
__Host-GAPSThis cookie name is associated with Google. It is set by Google to identify the user and is used in support of the Google Identity application.

Functional cookies: these cookies enable functionalities that are not strictly necessary for the website to be usable, such as allowing you to contact us for support via Intercom. These cookies expire after 24 months.

The cookies we use in this category are:

Set by us

NameDescription
last_visited_frontpageStores the date of the user's last visit to the frontpage
admin_recombee_settingsStores recombee settings for admins experimenting with latest posts
selected_frontpage_tabStores the selected tab for logged out users
llm_chat_conversation_openWhether the LLM chat conversation UI is open
llm_chat_guide_openWhether the LLM chat guide is open

Set by Intercom

NameDescription
intercom-session-[*]Session cookie used by Intercom
intercom-id-[*]ID cookie used by Intercom
intercom-device-id-[*]Device ID cookie used by Intercom
intercom-[*]Miscellaneous cookies which may be set by Intercom

Set by Hotjar

NameDescription
_hjTLDTestWhen the Hotjar script executes we try to determine the most generic cookie path we should use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed.
_hjSessionUser_[*]Hotjar cookie that is set when a user first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
_hjIncludedInSessionSample_[*]Whether the current user is included in the session sample.
_hjFirstSeenIdentifies a new user's first session on a website, indicating whether or not Hotjar's seeing this user for the first time.
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgressThis cookie is used by HotJar to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie.

Analytics and performance cookies: these cookies help us improve or optimise the experience we provide. They allow us to measure how visitors interact with our Platforms and we use this information to improve the user experience and performance of our Platforms. These cookies are used to collect technical information such as the last visited Platform, the number of pages visited, whether or not email communications are opened, which parts of our website or email communication are clicked on and the length of time between clicks. They may also collect information to provide helpful features and e.g. be used to remember your preferences (such as your language preference), your interests and the presentation of the website (such as the font size). These cookies expire after 24 months.

The cookies we use in this category are:

Set by Google ReCaptcha

NameDescription
(various)Google ReCaptcha may set a number of cookies under the 'google.com' domain in order to check for suspicious activity. The full list of known possible cookies are: __Secure-3PSIDCC, __Secure-1PSIDCC, SIDCC, __Secure-3PAPISID, SSID, __Secure-1PAPISID, HSID, __Secure-3PSID, __Secure-1PSID, SID, SAPISID, APISID, NID, OTZ, 1P_JAR, AEC, DV, __Secure-ENID

Set by Google

NameDescription
_gidThis cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics. This appears to be a new cookie and as of Spring 2017 no information is available from Google. It appears to store and update a unique value for each page visited.
_gaThis cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics. This cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier.
_dc_gtm_UA[*]Used by Google Tag Manager to control the loading of a Google Analytics script tag.

Set by Datadog

NameDescription
dd_cookie_test_Cookie used by Datadog to test if cookies are enabled
_dd_sMain cookie used by datadog to track sessions