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Frequently Asked Questions

contact usforumsDatabase

How often is the database updated from the user supplied data?
User submitted data goes through an internal process which results in legitimate data appearing on the site once approved. Typically this takes about a week, but it varies.

How do I upload my data?
The Wowhead Client is a tool that maintains a WoW addon which keeps records of the NPCs, items, etc. that you encounter in the game and periodically uploads it to Wowhead, to make sure that our database always has the most up-to-date information. Wowhead is a user-driven site--we wouldn't exist without the contributions of our users, and we always encourage WoW players to come and be a part of the Wowhead community! So make sure to try the Client application if you haven't before!

Miscellaneous

Is Wowhead a Blizzard-approved site?
We certainly are! Wowhead is part of the official fansite program.

The developers on Wowhead create features for the site such as the News Webhook and Dressing Room, implement data requests from other 3rd-party sites and communities, datamine all the BFA builds (which more often than not involve file format changes and additional work to fix the site so the pages users can comment on do not error), optimize SEO so Wowhead performs well in search results, and improve upon an aging codebase (Wowhead is over 12 years old!)

Development time is also spent trying to reduce server costs. As ads are primarily optimized for English-speaking users, our non-English domains generate very little revenue but still incur server costs. We have decided to keep these sections maintained as a service to our international community. In addition, Wowhead is a very large site, and when a new expansion occurs, we see sizable traffic which leads to increased server costs. There is also an operations team, shared with other sites owned by Wowhead's parent company ZAM, which monitors the site for instability or downtime.

The content team maintains the news and guide sections, as well as social media/community outlets. This encompasses a variety of tasks such as being on-call in the middle of the night for breaking-news alpha updates, writing guides on topics the staff specializes in, managing paid contracted guide writers which includes recruiting, invoicing, editing and formatting, moderation in places such as comments and Discord, and shipping hundreds of prizes around the world. While news, guides, and social media were not implemented on Wowhead at the start of the site's history, and as such you may not be familiar with these sections if you haven't recently played WoW, they have become increasingly prominent in the past few years.

single large ador two smaller onesWowhead Shoprequests

One page open for 1 hour, 3 ads loaded each time, with 5 requests per ad, reloading once every 90 seconds. You would have around 600 requests.
One page open for 1 hour. 5 ads loaded each time, with 5 requests per ad, reloading once every 90 seconds. You would have around 1,000 requests.

imgur users finding malware

Plays sound automatically without your interaction
Causes substantial site lag after a reasonable load time
Exceeds the prescribed boundaries
Redirects you to another site/page
Causes any sort of popups
Downloads something to your computer

inherentlyever actuallyintentionentire thread about bad ads and how to report themAdditionallynewthis article by IT security company ESETExample Ad:should consider our Premium subscriptionpossiblepunishPlease note:intentionBAD ADS!! - Or how to report advertisementsplease report it accordinglyDiscord #site channelFeedback forumvia our Discord serverBAD ADS!! - Or how to report advertisements stickyallthrough the report features providedBehind The BannerHow we fought bad ads, sites and scammers in 2016Coalition for Better Ads"How many ads can I expect to see on a page and where?"Wowhead ShopWowhead Shop...and/or...

$1 per month

$5 per six months

$9 per year

read more about the subscription, its benefits, and sign upforcedo

Premium banner (top right) now mentions the price and explains that Premium entirely removes ads from the site.

New Premium banner added on the news page, after the first 5-6 news posts.

Existing Premium banners modified to highlight cost and features of Premium.

Each ad now has a link to sign up for premium labeled 'Remove all Ads'

Those blocking ads will now see a clickable, and more clearly defined, request to purchase Premium to support the site.

New users will see a notice about Premium and provide a direct link to sign up at that time.

Many Premium notifications are now localized to a users preferred language.

Comments

Why did you delete my comment?
Wowhead does not directly moderate its comments, except in extreme cases such as pornography, advertising or abuse. Instead, Wowhead uses a user-moderated comment system. Every Wowhead user can rate a comment up or down by one (or two depending on reputation) point(s). If a comment has a negative rating of negative 5 or more, the comment system automatically hides it from view (it can be viewed by clicking it).

What's the colored text?

Green: Comments with a rating of +10 or more or Moderator comment.

Blue: Comments posted by Wowhead administrators.

How do I make sure my comments don't get downrated?TheOnyxhelp pageScreenshots

Where did my screenshots go?
Screenshots are regularly replaced by better ones. We try to keep as many as we can, but eventually end up deleting a lot of previously approved ones to make room for more submissions.

How do I make sure my screenshots stay up?
We have a guide to how to take good screenshots here!

Who owns the screenshot submitted?
Once a screenshot is submitted it can be freely used by Wowhead.com for any purpose.

Videos

How do I get a video in the 'Video' tab?
YouTube video links shared in database comments are automatically sent for moderator review to be added to that database's Video tab. Not all videos will be added but in most cases a large majority will.

How do I report a video for deletion?
Please email if a video is no longer working to have it removed. You may also click the Feedback button on the top right side of the site.

Who owns the video submitted?
The direct link provided to Wowhead can continue to be used at the sole discretion of Wowhead.com once it has been given. However, the content itself, hosted on YouTube is not the property of Wowhead and the creating user has full rights to the content therein.

Forums

How do I pick an avatar / signature?
Head over to the Account Settings page.

Where has my thread gone? It was just here!
Be sure to check the Read Me post to make sure you have not violated any of our guidelines. If you have not, make sure to check the other forums. Your thread may have been moved to a more appropriate section.

What's the colored text?

Green: Posts made by moderators and bureaucrats.

Blue: Posts made by Wowhead administrators.

Orange: Posts made by Wowhead Patrons or VIP users (who need to stand out for one reason or another, but don't have any special privileges).

Can I be a moderator/blogger/editor/someone important?check our Volunteer page

Does the Wowhead Client have spyware/malware/very bad things?
Nope! However, we don't expect anyone to just take our word for this, so we had Softpedia confirm that the Wowhead Client was clean and free of any functionality that might cause information to be stolen/destroyed/called very bad names.

Does the Wowhead site have spyware/malware/very bad things?
Nope! For those of you who aren't inclined to take our word for it, you can review Google's Safe Browsing diagnostic page for details on Wowhead's suspicion level.

Is there any way the site could be indirectly responsible for malware getting on my computer?
There have been a few cases in the past where one of our ad networks doesn't catch the fact that ad has malware and they publish it on their network. The result is that Wowhead (as well as other sites using the network) have seen instances where advertisements caused malware warnings when people have visited the site. Every time this has happened, the people responsible for ads have shut off the ad network responsible. In extreme cases, we've completely shut off all ads on our site until we were assured that the bad ads had been purged. As you can imagine, we get just as angry as you guys when stuff like this happens (maybe even moreso because it makes us look bad for something we don't control) and we let the ad networks know. :)

The Wowhead Client requires logging in via the site. Why does it require a login?
When you upload data, the client logs you into Wowhead via the back-end so it can credit you with the upload and put your character data in the right place. This is also how we block bad data: if a Wowhead user has been proven to be uploading data from a private server, we block the user from uploading. This block happens when the client sends the user information to the site.

The Wowhead Client stores my World of Warcraft character information to send to Wowhead. Does it store anything else?
Nope! It only stores information related to the character. Your World of Warcraft account name and password are never scraped or stored by the Wowhead Client. We're just like you guys: we don't want the other members of our staff knowing our usernames and passwords, either. :)

How do I know what I'm uploading?
From the main window, you can click on NPCs, Objects, Pages, and Quests to bring up he built-in data viewer to see what data are being uploaded.

Say I'm in a group using "Master Loot", will the information about what mobs dropped be recorded?
Only if you are the one who loots corpses (i.e. if you are the Master Looter).

As this is a standalone program that runs along with WoW, does it violate the third party program rule that Blizzard has in the ToS/ToU?
Not at all. Simply put, the client downloads an add-on to your WoW addons folder and just uploads from there when you're done playing. Remember, Wowhead is part of the official fansite program – it wouldn't be if it was against any of Blizzard's policies.

How do I uninstall the application?
The Client is a standalone app, and as such doesn't have an installer nor an uninstaller. All you have to do is to delete the following files manually:

The Wowhead Client itself: WowheadClient.exe

The Wowhead Looter addon: World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns\+Wowhead_Looter

I'm on Windows 7 and the Wowhead Client is not running properly.https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-framework/net472How do I upload data on a Mac?SnorkelPopCzeano

Run TextEdit however you normally start apps (double click in Finder or use Spotlight).

Paste in the appropriate "set realmlist" entry from SnorkelPop's post above, on a blank line, with no spaces at the beginning or end of the line (extra blank lines above/below aren't a problem, though):

For US Clients — <World of Warcraft>/realmlist.wtf:
set realmlist us.logon.worldofwarcraft.com
For EU Clients — <World of Warcraft>/realmlist.wtf:
set realmlist eu.logon.worldofwarcraft.com

Click Format>Make Plain Text in the menu.

Save the file you just created to /Applications/World of Warcraft/realmlist.wtf

(Unless your WOW directory is different from the default location, in which case save it there.)

Run the Wowhead Client again.

Getting a "This version of WoW uses an unsupported realm" error on Mac?amphyxRyallCandlelightDumbPandatheir efforts

Go to Finder --> Preferences --> Advanced --> 'Show all filename extensions'.

Navigate to your World of Warcraft folder and find realmlist.wtf and select 'Get Info'.
If your World of Warcraft folder does not contain the realmlist.wtf file, refer to the above topic titled "How do I upload data on a Mac?"

Manually edit the 'Name & Extension' box by removing .txt from the file name.

Run the Wowhead Client again.