UESPWiki:Site Support

As UESP has continued to grow and evolve over the years, the site that began on a $10/month virtual server plan now costs several thousand/month to maintain and continues to climb. Although there is no immediate danger of the site going down due to lack of funds, we believe it would be wise to make the site as self-supporting as possible.

The site is currently supported from one source: advertising with Google DoubleClick for Publishers. Donations from our generous readers and editors has been discontinued since advertising is currently capable of covering all the site's expenses. Previously, the remainder of funds needed to keep the site up and running came directly from the pocket of Dave Humphrey, the UESP's founder. Currently, any excess revenue generated by the site are put into an account reserved for future use and possibly special events.

Although donations have been accepted for a while, supplementing the site with advertisements is new to the wiki. This will be on a trial basis, and the formatting and positioning of the advertisements will likely change from time to time.

Feedback and comments on this topic are always welcome. If you encounter an advertisement you feel is not appropriate for the UESP you may Report an Inappropriate Ad.

Site Costs

See Site Costs and Servers for the rough figures on current server costs.

Financial Records

Summary 2006 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006	Summary 2007 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007	Summary 2008 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008	Summary 2009 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009	Summary 2010 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010
Current Account Balance

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it okay if I block ads?

Yep, but we hope that the ad placements and content are subtle enough that you won't be bothered by them.

Is the UESP going to turn into another ad-infested site?

Our intention is to use just enough advertising to make the site self-supporting. For users with an account, advertising will never be put in articles, on the top of the page, or at other obtrusive locations – even if this results in a lack of enough income to support the site. Anonymous users will see a small number of additional ads at the top of the page. In addition, annoying ads, such as blinking images, are out of the question.

If the feedback from the ads is overly negative or they turn out to be too obtrusive or annoying, we will simply not use them anymore. Also, we're open to alternative methods in supporting the site, such as a yearly donation drive or anything else you can think of.

Why don't the financial records exactly add up?

The expense and revenue records provided on the site are not meant to record every penny but merely to give a rough idea of the site's running cost and income. Conversions between Canadian, US and sometimes other currencies make it time consuming to track everything to the penny so in some cases I simply round using the current conversion rates.

I try to keep the current balance of the site's account accurate with the actual value.

Excess Site Funds

Any excess site revenue is put into the site's account for future use which might include:

• Emergency site repairs
• Larger site upgrades
• Extra in case advertising revenue declines in the future
• Special things like contests, rewards, etc...