Deleted site… will the name EVER be released?

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  inerdgrrl · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 4:49 am

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  I have an account using (email visible only to moderators and staff) since 2013 … i’ve been waiting and hoping that the deleted account “nerdgrrl” might become available to claim under my email. Will this never happen?

  WP.com: Yes
  Correct account: Unknown

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  staartmees · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 5:01 am

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  Once deleted, usernames are locked forever, https://wordpress.com/support/close-account/#usernames-cannot-be-re-used-after-closure

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  justjennifer · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 5:49 am

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  Hi there, just adding to what both @timethief and @staartmees explained.

  While that username/site will never become available to reuse, you might be able to register a new wordpress.com site using one of the newer dotblog subdomains mentioned here https://wordpress.com/blog/2018/11/28/announcing-free-dotblog-subdomains/

  However, due to the recent changes on WordPress.com, I’m flagging Staff to make sure that these subdomains are still available for registration since I don’t see them during the new site signup flow. Thanks for your patience while they get back to you.

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  fstat · Staff · Apr 29, 2022 at 7:25 am

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  Hi @inerdgrrl,

  Are you referring to the account nerdgrrl or the site nerdgrrl.wordpress.com?

  If it’s the former, then that account hasn’t been deleted, and if it is deleted, that username will not be available again for anyone.

  If it’s the latter, that site was deleted years ago, and no one can use that address anymore.

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  themagicrobot · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 7:42 am

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  @fstat I’m curious for an answer to @justjennifer’s question. If I select for example themagicrobot.music.blog it shows the domain as available and free but at the next field only the Pro plan is highlighted and I can’t proceed further,

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  fstat · Staff · Apr 29, 2022 at 9:53 am

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  Hi @themagicrobot,

  When I try to register a .blog subdomain, I get the option on the next step to select the Free plan.

  

  What steps do you follow when creating that new site?

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  justjennifer · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 12:22 pm

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  So the dotblog subdomains are available at site signup, but only if you know about them?

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  helper-heroponriki · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 3:32 pm

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  I did some testing of my own and I do see what you mean. Unless you specify one of the free .blog subdomains, you’re not offered one as a free domain option unless you specify exactly what domain you want. I did not run into the problem that @themagicrobot had where they could only choose Pro as the plan option – I signed up for csonnek.music.blog (not launched yet) and was able to select the free plan.

  I’m reaching out to the team to see if the free .blog subdomain suggestions not being offered are intentional or if it’s an oversight when we switched plans.

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  justjennifer · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 4:54 pm

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  Thank you helper-heroponriki

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  helper-heroponriki · Member · Apr 29, 2022 at 7:31 pm

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  @justjennifer and @themagicrobot: Got confirmation that the .blog subdomains will not be offered in the general “new site” as options unless you specify the .blog subdomain you want.

  You can visit the domain (full list on our 2018 announcement post) itself – like https://music.blog/ – and you can click a link to set up you own music.blog subdomain from that page. It works the same way for the other .blog subdomains.

  Hope that clarifies things!