Cookie Policy
Metastarter sets no cookies. Not strictly necessary cookies, not functional cookies, not analytics cookies, not advertising cookies. No consent banner appears on any page of metastarter.org, because there is nothing to consent to. One appearance preference may be stored inside the browser itself, and only if a reader operates the appearance switch; that single entry is described in full below.
What does this policy say in short?
- Metastarter sets no cookies of any category, including cookies that other publishers describe as strictly necessary.
- At most one value is stored in the browser’s local storage: the literal word light or the literal word dark.
- The appearance value is written only when a reader operates the appearance switch, and it never leaves the device.
- No consent banner appears, because no storage used by this site requires consent.
- Clearing site data in the browser removes the value, and the page returns to its default light appearance.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small piece of text that a website asks a browser to store, and that the browser then attaches automatically to every later request it sends to that same website. A cookie therefore travels back and forth across the network.
The cookie mechanism is defined in RFC 6265, published in April 2011, which states that a browser should be able to hold at least 4096 bytes for a single cookie. Cookies are ordinary and often useful. A shop uses cookies to keep a basket between pages, a site with accounts uses cookies to keep a person signed in, and a measurement company uses cookies to count visits or to recognise the same device on several different sites.
A cookie is not, by itself, a privacy problem. The privacy question is always what the cookie contains, who receives it once the browser sends it, and how long it persists on the device.
Why does Metastarter set no cookies?
Metastarter sets no cookies because the site has nothing to remember about a person and nothing to report to a third party. Every page is a plain document assembled on the server, and each request stands on its own.
- There are no reader accounts, so no signed-in state has to be carried from one page to the next.
- There are no forms, no comment fields and no newsletter, so nothing is submitted that would need a session to hold it.
- There is no analytics service of any kind, so no measurement code runs in a reader’s browser and no visit is profiled or attributed to a device beyond the ordinary server access records described in the privacy policy.
- There is no advertising network, so no request is made to an external server that could set a cookie of its own.
- There is no paywall and no metering, so no page count is kept against any reader.
Every page arrives from metastarter.org as a single document, with its styling and its two small scripts carried inside that document, and the text is set in typefaces already present on the reader’s device. No script belonging to another organisation runs on this site, and a third-party script is the ordinary route by which unexpected cookies appear on a page that its publisher never intended to carry them.
What is the difference between a cookie and local storage?
The difference between a cookie and local storage is transmission. A cookie is sent to the server with every request the browser makes to that site, whilst a local storage entry stays inside the browser and is never attached to a request at all.
- Cookie
- Text stored by the browser at a website’s request, then attached automatically to every following request made to that website, including requests for images and stylesheets.
- Local storage
- Text stored by the browser under one website’s origin, readable only by pages from that same origin, and never placed into a network request by the browser itself.
- Origin
- The combination of scheme, host and port that identifies a website to the browser. A value written under one origin cannot be read by pages from a different origin.
Metastarter uses one local storage entry and no cookies. No script on this site reads that entry for any purpose other than choosing between the light and the dark appearance of the page.
What does Metastarter store in the browser?
Metastarter stores exactly one entry in local storage: a record of whether a reader has chosen the light or the dark appearance. The entry holds one of two literal words and nothing besides.
- What the entry records
- One of two literal values, light or dark.
- When the entry is written
- Only at the moment a reader operates the appearance switch. A reader who never operates the switch leaves nothing stored.
- What the entry does not contain
- No identifier, no random token, no timestamp, no visit counter, no reading history and no text typed by anybody.
- Where the entry goes
- Nowhere. The value remains in the browser on the device and is never transmitted to metastarter.org or to any other party.
- Who can read the entry
- Only pages served from metastarter.org, opened in the same browser profile on the same device.
- Whether the entry identifies a reader
- The value cannot identify anybody. One word chosen from two possibilities, shared with every other reader who made the same choice, distinguishes no one.
| What is stored | Where it is stored | When it is written | What it contains | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An appearance preference for the page. | In the browser’s local storage, under the origin metastarter.org. | Only when a reader operates the appearance switch. | One of two literal words, light or dark. | Until site data for metastarter.org is cleared in the browser. |
| No cookie, of any category, is set by this site. | No storage location is used, because no cookie is created. | At no point during a visit. | Nothing at all. | No lifetime applies. |
| No analytics identifier or audience measurement record exists. | Nothing of the kind is placed on the device, and the server keeps only the ordinary access records described in the privacy policy. | At no point, because Metastarter uses no analytics service. | No identifier and no profile of a reader is held. | No lifetime applies to an analytics record, since none is created. |
| No advertising or audience identifier exists. | Nowhere, since no advertising network is loaded into a page. | At no point, before or after a sponsor placement is shown. | There is no content to describe. | No lifetime applies. |
How can the stored preference be removed?
The appearance preference is removed through the browser’s own setting for clearing site data, the same setting that clears cookies and cached files. Browsers in common use on desktop and mobile devices provide such a setting, and it works without any action on the part of Metastarter.
Clearing site data for metastarter.org deletes the single entry. The next page opened then uses the default light appearance, exactly as the site appears to a reader arriving for the first time. Nothing else changes: no article becomes unreadable, no page fails to load and no notice is shown, because the entry governs appearance alone.
If the appearance switch is never operated A reader who never operates the switch leaves nothing behind. Local storage for metastarter.org stays empty, and closing the browser leaves the device as it was before the visit.
Why does no consent banner appear?
No consent banner appears because nothing stored by this site requires consent under either the European or the Turkish approach to browser storage. Both approaches begin from the same rule: storing information on a reader’s device requires the reader’s prior and informed consent, unless the storage is carried out solely in order to transmit a communication, or is strictly necessary for the provider of a service the reader has explicitly requested in order to supply that service.
The ePrivacy Directive, 2002/58/EC as amended in 2009, sets out those exemptions. The Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority published separate guidance on cookie practices in June 2022, resting on Turkish legislation rather than on the European instrument, and that guidance likewise separates strictly necessary storage from storage used for measurement, profiling or advertising.
The appearance preference falls within that exemption. The entry is written only as the direct result of a reader operating the appearance switch, which is the feature the reader has just asked for, and the value is used for nothing else. A banner requesting permission to remember a choice that has only just been made would add an interruption without adding any protection.
Should Metastarter ever store anything beyond that single preference, this page would be revised to describe the storage before it began, and consent would be sought wherever consent is required. Metastarter does not maintain a consent record, because there is no consent to record.
Do sponsor placements set cookies?
Sponsor placements on Metastarter set no cookies and carry no tracking of any kind. A page may carry one placement, sold directly by KARAHAN KREATİF İÇERİK ANONİM ŞİRKETİ and served from metastarter.org as ordinary text and images alongside the rest of the page.
No advertising network is involved. No external script is loaded, no impression is reported to another company, and no identifier is written to or read from the device. Sponsors receive nothing about readers: no network addresses, no device details, no measurements attributable to an individual and no record of which pages anyone has read. A sponsor knows only which article carries the placement, because that was agreed in advance and in writing.
Every commercial placement is disclosed on the page that carries it. Sponsorship has no bearing on what Melda Karahan writes or on which subjects are covered.
Where are the related policies?
The related policies sit on two further pages of Metastarter. The privacy policy describes what KARAHAN KREATİF İÇERİK ANONİM ŞİRKETİ does and does not collect, including ordinary server records and electronic mail sent to the publisher. The terms and conditions set out the basis on which the pages are published. The contact page lists the electronic mail address for written enquiries, as this site carries no contact form.
- Publisher
- KARAHAN KREATİF İÇERİK ANONİM ŞİRKETİ, registered in Sultanbeyli, İstanbul, Türkiye.
- Registered office
- Armağanevler Mah. Küçükpiyale Cad. No: 252, Kat: 5, Daire: 3, 34920 Sultanbeyli, İstanbul, Türkiye
- Editor
- Melda Karahan
- Electronic mail
- contact@metastarter.org
- Effective date
- 31 August 2026
Cookie Policy of Metastarter, published by KARAHAN KREATİF İÇERİK ANONİM ŞİRKETİ, MERSİS Number 0879120126000448, İstanbul Chamber of Commerce Registry Number 824415-0. Effective from 31 August 2026. Written enquiries are answered during Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00, Türkiye Time, Coordinated Universal Time plus three hours. Copyright 2026.