Cookies & Terms

Cookies are small files a website stores on your device. We use as few as we can.

Nothing that counts you is switched on until you say yes. When you first arrive you’re asked, and you can change your answer whenever you like.

A record of your cookie choice, so we don’t have to keep asking. We check again after a year.

A few small settings that remember things like which tab you last had open.

A sign-in cookie for the handful of volunteers who edit this site.

None of these follow you to other websites, and none of them can be switched off, because without them the site can’t do what you’ve asked it to.

Google Analytics. It counts visits and shows us which pages people read, so we can put our effort where it helps. It tells us that forty people looked at the hosting page; it doesn’t tell us who they were.

If you accept it, two cookies are set, _ga and _ga_44CNKXW2LP, which last up to two years. If you say no, they are never set at all. If you change your mind later, we delete them.

The site works exactly the same either way, and nothing you can do here depends on saying yes.

Donations are handled by Stripe on their own secure pages. We never see or store your card details, and any cookies used while you’re paying are set by Stripe under their own notice, not by us.

Use the button at the top of this page, or the Cookie settings link at the bottom of any page. You can also clear cookies in your browser settings at any time.

If you’d rather ask us something than click anything, email [email protected].

We’re still writing our full terms of use, and we’d rather publish nothing than publish something vague.

In the meantime: Empty Chairs events are free, informal and hosted by volunteers rather than by us centrally, and what to expect from one is set out on What to Expect and Safety & Support. If you have a question about using this site or about an event, please get in touch and a person will answer you.