By Lakshmi.Jaerik 2008-02-18 20:49:50
http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/?topic_id=133
Sixth question in the FAQ, been there since version 1, but I'll cut-paste it here anyway.
Q: Do you support RMT? (Real Money Trade)
A: Absolutely not. We have no ties to RMT companies whatsoever, nor do we condone their activities.
The high volume of traffic and database load required to host ffxiah.com can be quite expensive. Originally, much of the data that is now publicly accessible on the site was slated to only be available via a subscription service, similar to other FF-related fan sites. Instead, we decided to ask Google AdSense to target and place ads on our site, which covers our hosting and management fees.
While we have been making efforts to move the site to other advertising networks that will allow us to avoid RMT ads, we do not have complete, direct control over which ads are placed on our site. Unfortunately, it appears that a significant portion of them are still from RMT companies. While we could ask that all RMT-related ads be blocked, our revenue would no longer be sufficient to support the site, and we would have to move to a subscription-based membership model. Our users have made it abundantly clear that they would rather have ads, even RMT ones, than have to pay a monthly fee to access parts of the site.