Editing Neopets (section)

=== Creation and growth (1999–2005) ===
''Neopets'' was conceived in 1997 by [[Adam Powell (game designer)|Adam Powell]], a [[British people|British]] student at the [[University of Nottingham]] at the time. He shared this idea with [[Donna Powell|Donna Williams]] and the two started work on the site in September 1999, with Powell responsible for the programming and the database and Williams the web design and art. Their original office was located in [[Guildford]].<ref name="NT52" /> With the help of two friends, the site launched on 15 November 1999.<ref name="about" /><ref name="Trahan" /><ref name="Klotz" /> Powell stated that the original goal was to "keep university students entertained, and possibly make some cash from banner advertising".<ref name="Headon" /> The site contained [[popular culture]] references, such as a Neopet that was simply a picture of entertainer [[Bruce Forsyth]], and another that was a cartoon version of singer [[Macy Gray]].<ref name="Kushner" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-04-10 |title=15 Things You Forgot About Neopets |url=https://screenrant.com/neopets-trivia-facts-secrets-you-forgot/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref>

The user base grew by [[word of mouth]] and by [[Christmas]] 1999, ''Neopets'' was logging 600,000 [[page view]]s daily and sought investors to cover the high cost of running the site. Later in the month, [[Americans|American]] businessman [[Doug Dohring]] was introduced to the creators of the site and, along with other investors, bought a majority share in January of the following year.<ref name="Weintraub" /> Neopets, Inc. was incorporated by Dohring in February 2000, and began business on 28 April. Dohring used [[Scientology]]'s Org Board to manage the company.<ref name="Kushner" /><ref name="Bellman" /> Powell and Williams were unaware of the Scientology connections until searching the employees at the newly formed company six months later but did not address this until the company hired a woman to introduce Scientology to ''Neopets''. Powell and Williams stopped the addition of any Scientology education to ''Neopets'' and ensured such content never made it into anything site-related.<ref name="Bellman" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/neopets/comments/26fwhh/i_am_donna_one_of_the_founders_of_neopets_ask_me/chqqpbo?context=3 |title=I am Donna, one of the founders of Neopets, ask me anything... |last=Williams |first=Donna |publisher=reddit |date=2014-05-25 |website=Reddit |access-date=2021-04-17 |archive-date=4 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104072327/https://www.reddit.com/r/neopets/comments/26fwhh/i_am_donna_one_of_the_founders_of_neopets_ask_me/chqqpbo/?context=3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

With the new company, [[intellectual property]] that did not belong to ''Neopets'' was removed but the site kept the [[American and British English spelling differences|British spellings]].<ref name="Kushner" /> The website made money from the first paying customers using an advertising method trademarked as "[[#Immersive advertising|immersive advertising]]".<ref name="Weintraub"/><ref name="immersive" /> In 2004, ''Neopets'' released a premium version and started showing advertisements on the basic site that were not shown to premium members.<ref name="González" />

In the 2000s, ''Neopets'' was consistently noted as one of the "[[sticky content|stickiest]]" sites for children's entertainment. A press release from ''Neopets'' in 2001 stated that Neopets.com led in site "stickiness" in May and June, with the average user spending 117&nbsp;minutes a week.<ref name="yahoo4" /> ''Neopets'' also led in the average number of hours spent per user per month in December 2003 with an average of 4 hours and 47&nbsp;minutes.<ref name="Myers" /> A 2004 article stated that [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen//NetRatings]] reported that people were spending around three hours a month on ''Neopets'', more than any other site in its Nielsen category.<ref name="Eckstein" /> By May 2005, a ''Neopets''-affiliated video game producer cited about 35 million unique users, 11 million unique IP addresses per month, and 4 billion web page views per month. This producer also described 20% of the users as 18 or older, with the median of the remaining 80% at about 14.<ref name="Gamespot" />