WNOL is the abriviation for 'Wells, Nevada On Line!' As if you didn't know that already.
It is a web site that has been created to represent the best interests of the people of this small rural mountain community in an effort to connect them and it to the world at large...and also, to bring more of the world closer to the community Wells.

We are not associated with the WNOL TV or Radio networks.

People? There are no people at WNOL. It's completely automated and functions on the newest technology of 'artificial intelligence', fuzzy logic and the constant guessing game of 'what's going to happen next.
No, we're just kidding.
There are very few people at WNOL and yet each are dedicated to the progressive creation and production of this site. Their collective desire is to present the cleanest and best web site for the community of Wells, Nevada as their talents will provide.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...but, who are the people behind it?
Mainly, a few local folks who have often expressed their wishes not to have their names published as their privacy is keenly cherished and several friends from around the country and other outlying places in the world. They do not care about receiving any personal recognition for their efforts and only hope that those who visit this site enjoy themselves and find something of interest while here. They do wish that those who visit WNOL sign the guest book, leave a comment, use the Feed Back or send an Email every now and then.
Technical information about this site is available by clicking HERE.

Tasty little snacks that come in all shapes, sizes and flavors that have been found to be really good when dipped in milk. Besides something good to snack on while surfing the net cookies have been given a bad rap. Here's some great information to help you understand these things a little better...grab a glass of milk, now let's get going.

What are Cookies and Why?

A message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Also see session cookie and persistent cookie.

The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customized Web pages for them. When you enter a Web site using cookies, you may be asked to fill out a form providing such information as your name and interests. This information is packaged into a cookie and sent to your Web browser which stores it for later use. The next time you go to the same Web site, your browser will send the cookie to the Web server. The server can use this information to present you with custom Web pages. So, for example, instead of seeing just a generic welcome page you might see a welcome page with your name on it.

The name cookie derives from UNIX objects called magic cookies. These are tokens that are attached to a user or program and change depending on the areas entered by the user or program.

Do Cookies Compromise Security?

Cookies are messages that a Web server transmits to a Web browser so that the Web server can keep track of the user's activity on a specific Web site. The message that the Web server conveys to the browser is in the form of an HTTP header that consists of a text-only string. The text is entered into the memory of the browser. The browser in turn stores the cookie information on the hard drive so when the browser is closed and reopened at a later date the cookie information is still available.

Web sites use cookies for several different reasons:

To collect demographic information about who is visiting the Web site. Sites often use this information to track how often visitors come to the site and how long they remain on the site. To personalize the user's experience on the Web site. Cookies can help store personal information about you so that when you return to the site you have a more personalized experience. If you have ever returned to a site and have seen your name mysteriously appear on the screen, it is because on a previous visit you gave your name to the site and it was stored in a cookie so that when you returned you would be greeted with a personal message. A good example of this is the way some online shopping sites will make recommendations to you based on previous purchases. The server keeps track of what you purchase and what items you search for and stores that information in cookies. To monitor advertisements. Web sites will often use cookies to keep track of what ads it lets you see and how often you see ads. Cookies do not act maliciously on computer systems. They are merely text files that can be deleted at any time - they are not plug ins nor are they programs. Cookies cannot be used to spread viruses and they cannot access your hard drive. This does not mean that cookies are not relevant to a user's privacy and anonymity on the Internet. Cookies cannot read your hard drive to find out information about you; however, any personal information that you give to a Web site, including credit card information, will most likely be stored in a cookie unless you have turned off the cookie feature in your browser. In only this way are cookies a threat to privacy. The cookie will only contain information that you freely provide to a Web site.

Cookies have six parameters that can be passed to them:

1. The name of the cookie.

2. The value of the cookie.

3. The expiration date of the cookie - this determines how long the cookie will remain active in your browser.

4. The path the cookie is valid for - this sets the URL path the cookie us valid in. Web pages outside of that path cannot use the cookie.

5. The domain the cookie is valid for - this takes the path parameter one step further. This makes the cookie accessible to pages on any of the servers when a site uses multiple servers in a domain.

6. The need for a secure connection - this indicates that the cookie can only be used under a secure server condition, such as a site using SSL.

Both Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) can be set to reject cookies if the user prefers to use the Internet without enabling cookies to be stored. In Netscape, follow the Edit/Preferences/Advanced menu and in IE, follow the Tools/Internet Options/Security menu to set cookie preferences. (More on this aspect further down.)

If you talk to a typical surfer, you'll find one of their biggest fears is of this horrible thing called a cookie. Based on the press, cookies are so dangerous, such a huge security risk that anyone would be foolish to even consider letting one within a mile of him. Yeah, right.

In actuality, cookies are harmless. All they are is a simple bit of text which web sites use to identify a surfer in some manner. This could be as simple as a numeric character saying "this is Richard", or in some cases it can contain actual email addresses, phone numbers or addresses - BUT ONLY IF THESE WERE ENTERED BY THE SURFER.

Cookies can be very wonderful as, properly used, they can personalize the surfing experience making it that much more profitable and enjoyable.

Sometimes their use is of more concern, as some of them attempt to keep a record of your surfing habits. There are those companies which claim they use the data to give you exposure to ads more tailored to your desires, but it raises some critical privacy concerns. What's the problem? They keep a record of all of your surfing habits. Do you trust them? Do you even know who they are?

In some rare instances, amateur webmasters actually store credit card or other sensitive data directly in a cookie. This is an extremely bad practice and anyone who discovers it should most definitely complain loud and clear. Fortunately, it is fairly rare.

One thing for sure, WNOL does not use cookies of any kind to track our visitors. We don't even ask for information outside of our Forum, Guestbook and Feedback, which by the way, are so user friendly that our visitors have full freedom as to what information they wish to provide. We never ask for personal information.

When you find a link on one of our pages requesting that you bookmark or save a page that is ours in your favorites folder for easier access later on...this is a form of a cookie, but a safe one. It does not log any information about you or your habits, it does not intrude anywhere on your computer and only enables you to click and come back to our site at your convenience.

Generally, cookies are extremely valuable. Sometimes they may let others know more about what you've been doing than you desire. My recommendation is to find a good cookie management product and install it on your computer. Then selectively accept or decline cookies from specific sites as you are asked.

So What's A Cookie For, Anyway?

With all of the rhetoric about cookies, many people don't understand that these little text files were invented for a reason. In fact, cookies were created to solve the internet's equivalent of Alzheimer's disease. You see, web sites do not remember who they are talking to!

The web was designed to be simple and straightforward. You (a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape) ask for something from a web server. The web server obediently hands it to you, then goes off to do something else. This is due to the original purpose of the web - a vast electronic library!

The web was never designed to support electronic commerce. It was designed to support reading text. Images, videos, sounds and commerce were all shoehorned into the structure later.

Okay, so web servers are forgetful. What exactly does this mean? The browser asks the web server for an object (a web page, image, graphic or whatever) and the server obligingly returns it. The connection to the browser is then closed and forgotten.

Thus, the next time the browsers makes a request of the web server, the poor server has no easy way to know that it is the same as before. As far as the server is concerned, every single request to do something is a unique request from a different computer.

Personal and Financial Information Requests:

As with above, this also makes any kind of transaction control very difficult. Think about it for a minute and you'll understand. There are plain cookies and then there are cookies with goodies. We've been talking about the plain cookies up to this point, now, cookies with goodies...the Trackers. You enter your personal information into a screen, which sends you to a second screen to enter your name and address. If the web server does not know that you are you, then how in the heck does it relate the credit card information to your name and address?

The answer is cookies, cookies with Trackers. To put it very simply, a cookie is simply a way for the web server to know that you are indeed you. In the previous example, a cookie would allow the server to know that the name and address are related to the credit card number.

How does this work? Well, the server creates a small text file on your system called a cookie. This text file can only be referenced by that server, and it contains a simple unique number which identifies you.

Whenever the server does something it tries to read this cookie to see if it knows who you are. Thus, when the screen allowing you to enter your name and address is displayed, the browser tries to read a cookie, effectively asking "do I know who you are?". It does the same thing on the credit card entry screen.

Okay, this all seems harmless enough, doesn't it? So how is this very harmless and exceptionally useful system abused?

Cookies can be set to last until the browser exits, or they can be set to expire (be deleted) far into the future. Various advertising companies actively abuse this feature - and this has led to the public backlash against cookies.

You see, cookies can be created and read when any object is loaded from a web server. This includes banners and web bugs (small graphics designed to help advertisers track who is looking at their ads). Remember, not all cookies are Trackers though.

The advertising companies take advantage of this feature to set cookies on your computer so they can build up a picture of what sites you've been looking at. The banners effectively ask "have I seen this person (computer system) before?" If the answer is "yes" (a cookie exists), then a notation is made in your profile on the advertisers computer system. A Tracker.

Believe me, it does not take long for an advertising agency to build up a very nice understanding of exactly what you do on the internet. Why do they want to do this? To make more money, of course.

How does this work? An advertising agency sells eyeballs. The theory they operate on is simple. The more qualified the eyeballs, the more likely that banners are to be clicked, and the more likely that sales are to be made. Thus, if you typically surf, say, Star Trek sites, you may be interested in seeing advertisements about Science Fiction movies, and theoretically you will be more likely to purchase tickets. Ah ha! Eyeballs, Trackers!

Okay, why is this a problem? Do you really want an advertising agency knowing everything about your web surfing habits? Do you trust them? Do you think they will keep this information private?

Or to put it another way, these companies are making money (lots of money) based upon your eyeballs. They are not sharing that money with you - in fact, they never even asked your permission to gather information about you.

As an analogy, suppose you were reading a magazine on a park bench and someone was hiding in the tree over your head, recording every page that you looked at in a notebook. How long would you put up with this behavior?

Thus, the public is simply objecting to the unethical use of cookies to track their movements through the internet. And as you can see, a very useful tool has been corrupted by companies whose motives are suspect, to say the least.

Cookies among friends:

Ah, what's a little cookie among friends? It's odd, but few things seem to stir up more passion among the non-technical computer users than these small text files. Ask just about anyone about cookies and they will be happy to relate their dangers and why they are the instruments of evil in the universe!

Do Cookies need to be eradicated?

Well, actually, a cookie is simply a small text file that a web site uses to store data. You see, the problem with the internet is that it does not maintain something called "session state". This simply means there is no built in way to connect two different browser screens together. For example, you have a screen where you order something and another where you enter your credit card data. There is no native, easy way to ensure that the data you enter on the two screens is related.

Except for cookies (technically there are a few other ways to do it, but let's keep this simple). What happens is any data that you enter into a browser is stored locally on your computer (or a unique value is stored allowing the host computer to look up your data for you). That's literally all that a cookie is - a place to store some data on your computer.

So what's the problem?

Many companies use cookies that are activated by doubleclicking to build up a massive database describing your personal buying and surfing habits. This is very dangerous as it invades your privacy and gives companies (and the government) more data about you than you would probably like.

Banner ads and other elements on a browser window can have cookies of their own. This means that you may actually get dozens of cookies planted on your system just from visiting a single web site.

There is the possibility that browser bugs exist which allow other web sites to view cookies that they did not create (normally, the only site which can view a cookie is the same site that created it). So what are you to do?

Personally, I don't allow any doubleclicking anywhere on my computers or other systems, in fact, I set my mouse to single-click only for everything, plus I am not fond of the Internet Explorer and Netscape cookie controls (even though I still use them), I also use two third party products called McAfee & Norton Internet Security to selectively turn on or off cookies on a web site or domain basis.

This allows me to decide if I want a cookie planted on my system or not. So when I visit a site which allows my data to be saved, making it more convenient for me, I will allow the cookie. However, when the nasty doubleclick banners set a cookie, I disable it and never hear from them again.

This gives me the choice - it's a little more work, but I would rather spend some extra time and do exactly what I want and take the personal responsibility to protect my private information. Bottom line? If you don't want people or companies to have your personal information don't give it to them and don't put it on unsecure programs.