Last updated: October 29, 2026
The Broken Ear uses as few cookies as possible. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies, we don't run analytics that follow you across sites, and we never sell your data.
Cookies we use
| Cookie | Set by | Why |
|---|---|---|
wordpress_*, wordpress_logged_in_*, wordpress_test_cookie | The Broken Ear | Keep you signed in, and check that your browser accepts cookies. Needed to use an account. |
bp-*, Better Messages | The Broken Ear | Remember forum and messaging settings, such as message threads and notices. |
__cf_bm | Cloudflare (our network) | Tells real visitors apart from bots. Expires after 30 minutes. |
| reCAPTCHA cookies | Spam and bot protection on the sign-in and registration pages only. | |
be_cookie_notice | The Broken Ear | Remembers that you closed the cookie notice. |
Embedded content
When a post includes a YouTube video, we use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, so YouTube doesn't set cookies until you press play. Vimeo players and X (Twitter) posts are run by those companies and follow their own cookie rules.
Your choices
All of these cookies are needed for the site to work or stay secure, so there's nothing to switch off here. You can still block or delete cookies in your browser, but then signing in won't work.