Cannot create Gravatar/WordPress account with new custom domain
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I am trying to create a brand new Gravatar account using an email address tied to my newly registered custom domain.
What I’ve already tested/ruled out:
My email works perfectly. I have sent test emails from my personal Gmail account to this new custom domain address, and they arrive with no issues.
My DNS is fine. The domain is routed through Cloudflare, but my MX records are correctly set to “DNS Only” (Grey Cloud), not proxied.
Brand new custom domain being silently blocked from creating a Gravatar/WP account?
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Hi there! Since this involves investigating a specific domain and potential account blocks, we’ll need to move this to a private channel to protect your personal information.
Please reach out to our support team directly through this link, and we can take a closer look at the email address and domain in question: https://wordpress.com/help/contact/
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Hi @ramonmena04, thank you for getting back to me!
I tried to contact support through that link, but it directed me to an automated AI chatbot. If I explain the issue to the bot, will it eventually be escalated so you (or a human agent) can actually see my message?
Thanks!
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Hi @huajianzhang,
Thanks for the follow-up! Yes, the automated assistant is designed to gather initial details to ensure your request reaches the right team.
If you continue through the prompts and select that your issue isn’t resolved, you will be given the option to “Contact Support” directly. This will allow you to send a message that a human Happiness Engineer (like myself or my colleagues) will review.
Once you get that message through, we’ll be able to securely look at your specific email address and domain without sharing that information here on the public forums.
Best Regards,
Eduardo Mena -
Hi @ramonmena04, thanks for the guidance.
Unfortunately, the bot is keeping the door shut tight! I tried to get past the initial prompts, but it never gave me the option to contact a human.
Ironically, it actually redirected me right back to this public forum to ask my question. Since the bot has me stuck in a loop, is there a direct email I can use, or could you initiate a private message with me here?
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Sorry for the runaround, the bot loop is genuinely frustrating and you shouldn’t have to deal with that on top of an account creation issue. Let me help you get unstuck.
To reach a human Happiness Engineer directly, here’s the exact path through the support flow:
- Go to wordpress.com/help/contact/
- In the chat, type something like “I need to speak to a human about an account creation issue”
- When the bot responds, scroll down and look for “Still need help?” or “Contact Support”, it may take 2–3 exchanges with the bot before that option surfaces
- Select “Email support” rather than chat, this routes directly to the human support queue and a Happiness Engineer will follow up via email
If that still doesn’t work, try accessing support while logged into a WordPress.com account (even a temporary one if needed), authenticated users sometimes get faster access to the human escalation path.
On your actual issue
Your troubleshooting has been thorough, email working, DNS correctly configured with MX records on grey cloud through Cloudflare. The most likely remaining cause is that WordPress.com/Gravatar’s account creation system is flagging your custom domain as suspicious, which does happen with newly registered domains that haven’t built any reputation yet. This is exactly the kind of thing that needs a human on the backend to investigate and whitelist, which is why getting to the support team is the right next step.
A Happiness Engineer will be able to look at your domain and email directly in a private, secure channel. Hang tight, you’re close!
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Hello folks, there is no reason to request the OP to go through the contact support process yet again in order for them to get staff assistance.
@huajianzhang please list the email address you want to register here normally like this example (email visible only to moderators and staff) and the forum software will redact it from public view but staff will still be able to see it.
STAFF: Perhaps relevant, there was a similar issue a few days ago with another user trying to create a new account with gravatar and running into a problem.
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Thank you, @ramonmena04 and @kudufo, for your help with this. And @justjennifer, I really appreciate the thoughtful thinking!
To help get this resolved, the email address I am trying to register is (email visible only to moderators and staff). We just acquired the domain a couple of days ago to better brand our business.
WordPress.com Forums 