Cookie Policy

Cookies are small text files a site stores in your browser. Local storage is a similar mechanism for keeping small amounts of data on your device. Some are essential for security or basic functionality; others, like advertising trackers, are not. We keep our use of them to a minimum.

Strictly necessary, always on.

• Cloudflare Turnstile. The newsletter sign-up form is live, but it is currently protected by a hidden honeypot field rather than a Turnstile challenge, so Cloudflare sets no cookie today. If we switch Turnstile on, it may set short-lived cookies to tell humans from bots, and we will update this policy first.
• Consent preference. We set one cookie, orbitalwiki-cookie-consent, scoped to .orbitalwiki.com so your choice applies across the main site and every subdomain (e.g. dashboard, status), not just the page you chose it on. It is not a tracking identifier, and it is the one cookie we keep even if you decline everything else, otherwise we couldn’t remember that you declined.

Functional, on by default, off if you decline all.

• Theme and language. Two cookies, orbitalwiki-theme and ow_locale, remember your light/dark preference and interface language across every subdomain. They are not tracking identifiers. If you choose “Decline all” in the consent banner, both switches still work for the rest of your visit, but stop being remembered: they become session-only (cleared when you close your browser) and any existing saved values, including in local storage, are deleted.
• Affiliate referral. If you arrive on a link ending in ?aff=…, we store that code in one cookie, ow_aff, for thirty days, and attach it to the payment page if you later subscribe, so the person who recommended us is paid their commission. The code identifies the recommender, not you: it is the same value for everyone who follows that link, and it is never combined with anything else about you. On that one page load, and nowhere else on the site, our payment provider Lemon Squeezy also records the click and sets its own cookie, ls_aff_ref; to tell one click from another it reads technical details of your browser, such as screen size, installed fonts and language settings. If you choose “Decline all”, none of that runs at all, and ow_aff becomes session-only and is gone when you close your browser.

Analytics and error monitoring, off until you opt in.

• PostHog. We measure aggregate usage with PostHog only after you choose “Accept analytics” in the consent banner, and even then in cookieless mode: it sets no cookies and does not track you across other sites. If you choose “Essential only” or “Decline all”, or make no choice, no PostHog events are sent. You can withdraw consent at any time; see the Privacy Policy.
• Sentry (error monitoring). We use Sentry to catch and fix crashes and broken pages. Like analytics, it runs only after you choose “Accept analytics”. If you choose “Essential only”, “Decline all”, or have not chosen yet, no error events are sent from your browser.

Counting referrals, with no cookie at all.

• Referral counting. On every visit our server notes which kind of site referred you, for example a search engine or an AI assistant, and adds one to a daily total for that category. It is listed here for completeness rather than because it sets anything: it stores no cookie, writes nothing to your browser, and keeps no record that could recognise you on a return visit or on another site. It is the only measurement that is not opt-in, and it exists so that declining analytics does not leave us unable to tell whether anyone is reading the site. Because it happens on our server rather than in your browser, a tracker blocker does not stop it.

We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

When you first visit, a banner gives you three choices. “Accept analytics” turns on cookieless analytics and error monitoring. “Essential only” keeps functional cookies (theme, language) working but turns both analytics and error monitoring off. “Decline all” does the same as “Essential only” and additionally stops the functional cookies from persisting past this browsing session. Until you choose, both analytics and error monitoring stay off. Your decision is saved in the orbitalwiki-cookie-consent cookie described above, so the banner does not show again on any orbitalwiki.com subdomain. You can change it here at any time, without an account, and the change takes effect immediately. You can also block or delete cookies through your browser settings, and object to analytics processing by emailing us. Blocking the strictly necessary items may stop the form from working normally.

You haven’t made a choice yet. Selecting an option above sets your preference.

PostHog provides cookieless analytics and Sentry provides error monitoring, both only after opt-in. Vercel hosts the site. Cloudflare Turnstile is available for the newsletter sign-up form but is switched off at the moment, so nothing is sent to Cloudflare. These providers process data under their own privacy terms, available from their websites. See our Privacy Policy for the full list of providers and our international-transfer safeguards.

We will update this policy if our use of cookies changes, and revise the date above. Questions can be sent to hello@orbitalwiki.com.