howstart.cc only sets cookies the site itself needs to remember a choice you already made - there's no advertising, tracking, or third-party analytics cookie today. This page lists exactly what exists, so the cookie banner isn't asking you to trust a black box.
Cookies we use
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Site settings | ||
cookie_consent | Remembers the choice you make in the cookie banner itself. | 365 days |
pref_lang | Remembers your language choice (or the one auto-detected on your first visit). | 365 days |
theme | Remembers your light/dark mode choice. | 365 days |
| Content progress | ||
checklist_* | Remembers which checklist items you've ticked off on a given lesson. | 30 days |
| Newsletter pop-ups | ||
newsletter_popup | Remembers your choice on the "Stay in the loop" pop-up (the one that appears partway through an article), so it doesn't ask again right away. | Until midnight if you chose "No, thanks"; 30 days if you subscribed or said you already had |
discord_popup | Same, for the separate "Join the community" (Discord invite) pop-up. | Until midnight if you chose "No, thanks"; 30 days if you subscribed |
Closing either pop-up without choosing an option - the X button, clicking outside it, or pressing Escape - sets no cookie at all, so it's free to ask again on your next visit or scroll past the same point.
All of these are first-party (set by howstart.cc, read only by howstart.cc) and only ever store a preference you triggered yourself - none of them track you across sites or build a profile, so they're treated as necessary and are never blocked by the banner's "Necessary only" choice. If that ever changes - e.g. an analytics cookie gets added - it will show up in this table and be gated behind the "Accept all" choice, not added silently.
Changing your choice
You can revisit the cookie banner at any time from the link in the footer, or right here: