Reader Privacy
Updated
Where Tales Began shows no advertising and runs no advertising code. Two analytics tools measure how the site is used: Google Analytics 4, which runs only under the rules below and uses cookies when it does, and Cloudflare Web Analytics, which uses no cookies. The site loads no other tracking code, and no fonts or social-media embeds from other services; its fonts are served from its own domain.
Google Analytics
When Google Analytics runs, it records which pages are viewed, how a visitor arrived (from a search engine or another site, for example), the type of device and browser, an approximate location, and interactions such as scrolling, clicks on links that lead off the site, and file downloads. It stores first-party cookies named _ga and _ga_ followed by an identifier, which by default last up to two years.
Whenever it runs, the site tells Google Analytics that advertising storage, the use of visitor data for advertising, and ad personalization are all refused; only analytics storage is allowed. Event data are kept for 14 months, and Google signals and the account's data-sharing settings are switched off. Google explains how it uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Visitors in Europe, the United Kingdom and Switzerland
Visitors in the European Economic Area (including the French overseas departments, Saint Martin and the Åland Islands), the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are asked first. A notice offers a choice, and until the visitor accepts, Google Analytics does not load at all: no Analytics code runs, nothing is sent to Google, and no Analytics cookie is written. If the visitor declines, it never loads in that browser.
When no choice has been saved yet, the page decides whether to ask by requesting the visitor's country code from Cloudflare, the network that delivers the site. The code is used only for that decision and is not stored. If the country cannot be determined, or the request fails, the visitor is treated as one who must be asked.
Visitors elsewhere
For visitors in other countries, Google Analytics loads without a notice, under the same advertising settings described above.
Saving and changing the choice
A choice is saved in this site's local storage in the browser, not in a cookie. Once a choice is saved, the site follows it on later visits in that browser, wherever the visitor is.
The choice can be changed at any time with the Analytics choices link at the foot of every page, which opens the notice and offers both options again. Declining there stops Google Analytics in that browser from then on, for visitors in any country. Cookies that Google Analytics has already stored stay in the browser until they expire or are deleted through the browser's settings. Clearing this site's stored data also removes the saved choice, and visitors in the regions above will then be asked again.
Cloudflare Web Analytics
Cloudflare, which hosts and delivers the site, adds its Web Analytics beacon to every page, for every visitor in every region. The analytics notice does not control it. It counts page views with known bots filtered out and measures how quickly pages load for real readers, and it sends its data to Cloudflare through an address on this site's own domain. It uses no cookies and no local storage, and Cloudflare states that it does not fingerprint visitors. A content blocker that blocks static.cloudflareinsights.com stops it.
Messages sent to contact@wheretalesbegan.com are used only to deal with what they are about, such as an error report or a question about reuse. The same address takes questions about this page.
Changes to this page
Before any advertising appears on the site, this page will be updated to name the provider, explain the cookies it uses and say how to opt out of personalized ads.
Last updated: 18 October 2026.