What is the Warcraft Census?
WarcraftRealm's WoW Census is the #1 site for World of Warcraft population tracking. WarcraftRealms boasts the broadest range of viewing options, the most accurate data, and the most updated data. The data can be viewed by server(realm), faction, class, race, guild, and even level. The WarcraftRealms site is also regularly updated with new and improved features and data analysis. This site is independantly run and maintained and has no ties to such gold/account/item selling enterprises. Not only that, but we are also the owners and maintainers of the CensusPlus UI Mod which is an extension of an original mod by Ian Pieragostini. Regular updates and new features continue to keep CensusPlus the best Census mod available.

How is the data collected?
The data is collected by a the Warcraft CensusPlus UI mod. The mod essentially crawls the /who data of people online when you take the census.

How does the Census data get to the WarcraftRealms.com website?
After you have taken a Census from within the game the data is saved to your UI variables save file. You must upload this file to the website for processing. Once you have uploaded the file, it is processed and the data is added to the database for disply!

Does the Warcraft Census mod slow down the server?
Blizzard has put measures in place to keep the servers from being flooded with /who requests. This is why there is a delay between /who's while running the Census UI mod. There is a query made for each /who, but given the massive number of queries needed to run the Warcraft Servers, the additional /who requests should hardly impact the servers at all.

Where can I get the latest version of the Warcraft CensusPlus UI mod?
You can find the latest version of CensusPlus here: Warcraft CensusPlus UI Mod

My server/faction isn't even listed! Why is this?
Only data submitted to the site is listed. If there is no data for a specific realm, then the server will not show up. If you would like to see your server listed, you can help by submitting data from the Census UI Mod.

My guild isn't listed! What's up with that?
Only data submitted to the site is listed. If there is no data for a specific guild, then that guild will not show up. If you would like to see your guild listed, you can help by submitting data from the Census UI Mod. Remember, only the top 50 guilds by member count are shown on the Census Display page, but all guilds entered can be found using the Guild Search page.

The data for my server/faction/guild can't be correct! Why is this?
Only data submitted to the site is listed. If there is no data, or limited data for a specific realm, then the display will be lacking. If you would like to see current and correct data, you can help submit data by running the Census UI Mod and uploading your census data.

This tool is great! What can I do to help?
You can help by submitting data from the CensusPlus UI Mod. Take a census of your realm and then upload your census data to the site. You will need to download the CensusPlus UI Mod.

You can get the latest version here. Unzip the file into your /World of Warcraft/Interface/AddOns/ directory.

Now when you are in World of Warcraft, type /censusplus or /census+ to see the census display. Click the Take button and it will take a census. Depending on the population of your faction and realm, this could take a little time.

Now when you exit the game, point your browser to http://www.warcraftrealms.com/upload.php. Upload your CensusPlus.lua file and you're done! You can find the CensusPlus.lua file in your /World of Warcraft/WTF/Accounts/XXXX/SavedVariables directory, where XXXX is the directory named for your WoW account (don't worry, this isn't submitted to the site). Your data will be processed and information added to the database!

What is WOWCensus and how is it related?
WOWCensus.com is another World of Warcraft census website. WoWCensus.com came online a few days after WarcraftRealms.com and tracks data a bit differently than WarcraftRealms. WoWCensus presents all historical data, combined together. They do not offer as many custom viewing options as WarcraftRealms, nor do the differentiate between US and EURO servers. WoWCensus also tracks all characters seen since release. Here we track complete history data as well but only data received within the past 30 days on characters level 10 and up is compiled in the main Census Display, the Quickstats, or the Realm Stats page. You can view complete history database stats on the Database Stats page. We are not affiliated in any way with WoWCensus.com other than we both provide census statistical information on the World of Warcraft player population.
 
WOWCensus.com was bought by OGaming.com and appears to have been offline ever since.

How often is the data updated?
There is an update process run twice a day. The longest amount of time that should pass before seeing your updated data is 12 - 24 hours. Realize however, that due to varying circumstances, the updates may be delayed for longer periods of time.

My character data on the character sheet is incorrect. How can I fix it?
The data comes from submissions from the Census UI Mod. To correct or update data on your character, just take a census of your realm and then upload your census data to the site.

When I submit data it says that it was unable to determine the version I am using. I know I have the latest version, what's wrong?
99.9% of the time it is due to uploading the wrong file. You want to be sure you are uploading the file located at

/World of Warcraft/WTF/Accounts/####/SavedVariables/CensusPlus.lua

and not the file located at:

/World of Warcraft/WTF/Accounts/####/SERVER_NAME/CHARACTER_NAME/SavedVariables/CensusPlus.lua.

Also, be sure you have exited the game before you attempt to upload.

Why do my uploads show as "UNPROCESSED"?
There are two possible reasons for this: firstly, check the date of the last processed file, shown at http://www.warcraftrealms.com/dbstats.php. If it's earlier then the date of your submission, the server simply hasn't reached your file yet. I deally it should only take up to 24 hours for a file to be processed, however this isn't always the case, as the sheer number of uploaded files is sometimes more than the database can keep up with.

If the latest file updated is after the date of your file, however, then there is a further problem. Make sure that you have uploaded the correct file (you should be uploading the Censusplus.lua file from your SavedVariables directory, not from the Censusplus addon folder), and also make sure you are using the latest version of the mod, as it will not accept uploads from outdated versions. Also check your filesize; if you get over around 20MB it also won't process, so you may need to purge your data if the file gets too large.

Server X only has 10 people on Horde side! That can't be right, can it?
No, it most definitely is not right, but it's not WarcraftRealms' fault, either! If you go to that server's page, it will most likely tell you there have been very few submissions in the last 30 days, and as only data from the last 30 days is included in most stats, that is the reason for the seemingly non-existant population. WarcraftRealms relies on submissions from players to keep information accurate, so where those submissions do not exist, sadly the accuracy is also lost.

If you want to help out and make results for such servers more accurate, please do make an alt character on those affected servers and run the Censusplus mod there occasionally. Even running one server a couple of times a week (perhaps while you are eating or something similar) will help. There are many servers struggling with low submissions, so the smallest contribution will make a difference.

I'm seeing posters on the forum with over 1 million updates listed, how do they do it?
Basically by running a lot of censuses! Most of the high-update censusers have alts on several servers, usually ones with low numbers of submissions taken from the "Most Wanted" list, and census them regularly. Some leave WoW running in the background with a census running whilst tabbed out doing other things on the computer, and just tab back to change server every now and then.

What's all this talk about "tickets"?
Every month, WarcraftRealms runs a prize draw, and every member receives one ticket for every 1000 updates they have submitted to the site. The draw is made from all the ticket numbers awarded, and the winners must contact Rollie to claim their prize - for more details see http://www.warcraftrealms.com/drawings.php.

I encourage you all to utilize this tool. The more people that update data, the more accurate the data is and will provide more up to date information.