Cookies Note
Last updated: 1 November 2026
Our website at www.LostCousins.com (the “Site”) uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our Site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Site and also allows us to improve our Site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that a website stores in your browser. We set analytics cookies only if you agree; the others are needed for the Site to work. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
We use the following cookies:
- Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our Site. These essential cookies are always enabled because our Site won’t work properly without them. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to stay signed in, finish signing in safely and submit forms securely. You can switch off these cookies in your browser settings but you may then not be able to access all or parts of our Site.
- Analytical or performance cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. We only use these if you agree (see “Choices about cookies” below).
- Functionality cookies. These remember choices you make on our Site, such as whether you want it shown in light or dark colours, so that pages look the way you prefer when you come back.
- Targeting cookies. We do not use targeting or advertising cookies, and we do not share cookie information with anyone for advertising.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
| Cookie | Purpose | More information |
|---|---|---|
Signing in.AspNetCore.Cookies | Strictly necessary. Keeps a member signed in. It is set only when you sign in and is removed when you sign out. Members: lasts 14 days, renewed while you keep using the Site. LostCousins staff: ends when the browser is closed, and after 12 hours at most. During a preview period, when members can try the new site for a limited time, it lasts until the day after the preview ends and isn’t renewed. It is encrypted and holds your account number, email address, name and role on the Site. | |
Signing in with Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo or Apple.AspNetCore.Correlation… | Strictly necessary. Links the sign-in back to the browser that started it, so that it cannot be hijacked. Deleted when the sign-in finishes; lasts 15 minutes at most. | |
Signing in with an emailed code.LostCousins.EmailSignIn | Strictly necessary. Set when you sign in with a code we email to you. It holds a random key, the address the code was sent to and the page to return to, all encrypted. Lasts 30 minutes at most. | |
Linking a sign-in account.LostCousins.PendingLink | Strictly necessary. Set when you sign in with an account (for example a Google account) that is not yet linked to your LostCousins membership, while you confirm the link with an emailed code. It holds the sign-in provider’s name, the provider’s account number and email address, and the page to return to, all encrypted. Lasts 30 minutes at most. | |
Sign-in noticelc_signin_notice | Strictly necessary. Set only when signing in has changed your account’s email address, for example when we switch to the address you have just signed in with because the old one no longer works. It carries that message to the next page, where it is shown once and then deleted. It is encrypted. Lasts 10 minutes at most. | |
Form security.AspNetCore.Antiforgery… | Strictly necessary. Protects our forms against another website submitting a form on your behalf (“cross-site request forgery”). It holds a random value and nothing personal. Deleted when you close your browser. | |
Your analytics choicelc-analytics | Strictly necessary. Remembers whether you accepted or rejected analytics cookies, so that we don’t ask on every page. It contains a single word (yes or no) and nothing else. Lasts one year. | |
Your colour choicelc-theme | Functionality. Set only when you choose Light, Dark or Match my device under Appearance in the profile menu, and remembers that choice. It contains a single word (light, dark or system) and nothing else. Lasts one year. | |
Your device’s colourslc-theme-resolved | Functionality. Set for visitors who have not chosen Light or Dark. It records whether your device was last in light or dark mode, so that pages are drawn in the right colours straight away. It contains a single word (light or dark) and nothing else. Lasts one year. | |
Announcements you have closedlc-dismissed-banners (kept in your browser’s storage, not a cookie) | Functionality. Remembers which site announcements you have closed, so that they stay closed. It holds only the announcements’ reference codes. Kept until you clear your browser’s stored data. | |
Visitor statistics (Google Analytics)_ga and _ga_HDB0WJ8PG6 | Analytical. Set by Google Analytics on every page, to tell us how many people visit and which pages they use. They hold a random number that lets Google recognise a returning browser. The statistics are processed by Google. Only set if you accept analytics cookies in the banner. Last two years. Because these cookies belong to the whole lostcousins.com domain, you may also see Google Analytics cookies from our forum (_ga_R5RM7PZFZM) and from our current website. | |
Google’s sign-in prompt (sign-in page only)g_state and g_csrf_token | Set by Google’s script when Google offers its “Sign in with Google” prompt on our sign-in page. g_state remembers whether you closed the prompt, so that it is not shown too often; g_csrf_token is a one-off security value used if you sign in through it. |
Please note that the following third parties may also use cookies, over which we have no control and accept no liability for. We do not allow advertising networks to set cookies on our Site. The only third party that does so is:
Google, which sets the Google Analytics cookies (_ga and _ga_HDB0WJ8PG6) and, on our sign-in page only, the cookies used by its “Sign in with Google” prompt (g_state and g_csrf_token). Google receives the information these cookies collect and uses it under its own privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy.
When you sign in with Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo or Apple, or pay through Stripe, you visit that company’s own website for a moment, and it uses its own cookies there under its own policies. Those cookies are not set on our Site.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics on all websites, visit tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Choices about cookies
You can choose which cookies we can set using the banner that appears at the foot of the page on your first visit. Accept and Reject are equally easy:
| Strictly necessary cookies | Always active |
|---|---|
| Analytical or performance cookies | Off until you accept |
| Functionality cookies | Always active |
You can change your mind at any time with Cookie settings at the foot of every page. If you reject analytics cookies, or turn them off later, we also remove any Google Analytics cookies already in your browser.
However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our Site.
Except for essential cookies, our own cookies expire after one year at most, and Google Analytics cookies after two years.
If you have any questions or concerns about our use of cookies, please send us an email at info@lostcousins.com.