My website has disappeared into thin air!
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My website has completely disappeared.
I’ve had a WordPress website for my photography since 2017. I checked it a few days ago and everything was fine.
Now it says: “This site can’t be reached.”
My Lay Theme plugin is gone, along with all my uploaded photos and pages.
Hosting and domain name are still valid.
Has my WordPress just disappeared into thin air?
WP.com: Yes
Jetpack: No
Correct account: YesThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to moderators and staff)
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@elcristofue thanks a heap for looking into it, it’s the most bizarre thing that’s ever happened! My wordpress has totally been reset and now says..
“Your site plan doesn’t allow to set a custom domain as a primary site address. Upgrade your plan and get a free one-year domain registration or transfer with any annual paid plan”Do they simply want me to upgrade to a paid plan? Will my website be returned if I pay?
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Thanks for sharing the domain name, @keljon88!
After taking a quick look, I noticed that your site is not hosted on WordPress.com but is instead a self-hosted site.If you’re curious about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, this guide explains it quite well:
https://wordpress.com/support/com-vs-org/
From what I can see, your domain was previously pointing to GoDaddy, which seems to be your host, but now it’s no longer pointing there.
In this case, I recommend reaching out to GoDaddy’s support team so they can help you with this.
You can also ask your question on the WordPress.org community forums here:
https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/
That forum is a great place for sites that use the WordPress software but aren’t hosted with WordPress.com.
Please let us know if you have any questions or need any extra help, and we’ll be happy to assist you. -
I definitely use wordpress.com as I don’t have a wordpress.org account.
I get my hosting from Domain Factory. https://www.df.eu/de/
My domain is with Hover https://www.hover.com/
Even if something isn’t pointing to the right site, why has my wordpress.com profile been completely wiped of all content, themes, plugins, pages and images?
Does this have something to do with wordpress now asking me to upgrade? -
Thanks so much for your reply and for sharing those extra details!
From what you’ve described, it sounds like your site was built with WordPress software but is hosted elsewhere (Domain Factory), not on WordPress.com. That explains the use of a different host.
Additionally, you have a WordPress.com account, but since your site is hosted on Domain Factory, as you mentioned, that’s why the site on your WordPress.com account appears empty because they are different sites.
Just to clarify, WordPress.com doesn’t delete content from self-hosted sites. Any changes would happen through your host (Domain Factory). I recommend checking your Domain Factory dashboard to log in to your original site. Their support team can help if you’re unsure how to access it.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need extra help. We’re happy to assist you!
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“you have a WordPress.com account, but since your site is hosted on Domain Factory, as you mentioned, that’s why the site on your WordPress.com account appears empty because they are different sites.”
I have always edited my site using mywebsite/wp-admin/index.php never on my hosting…
My Domain and Hosting sites have not been touched, this is purely a wordpress issue. I have never had a paid plan so I’m wondering if that came into effect and kicked me off as I use my own hosting and domain.
Please @elcristofue be very clear, will paying for the personal plan help me get my website back up and running? -
Paying for a Personal plan here at the host WordPress.com will not help you recover access to your site at a different company.
You may happen to be currently logged in to an account at the host WordPress.com. As has been explained earlier your site is over there (hopefully still) on servers at a completely different company.
WordPress.com is a host with sites built using a variant of the wordpress software. Millions of sites at hundreds of different hosts around the world also use the wordpress software. You chose to build a site using the wordpress software at Domain factory so that is where you need to be, not here. See the link regarding the correct .org forum already posted by the member of staff.
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Hi @keljon88,
I understand how disorienting it must be to see your site suddenly disappear. I’d like to echo what @themagicrobot and the @elcristofue mentioned earlier.Your website was built using the open-source WordPress software (often referred to as WordPress.org) and hosted with DomainFactory — a third-party hosting provider. In contrast, WordPress.com is a separate hosting platform that provides managed WordPress hosting and tools. While both platforms use WordPress software, they are different services.
That’s why logging into WordPress.com shows an empty or default site — it’s not connected to the content on your DomainFactory-hosted site.
To recover access to your original website, your best next step is to reach out directly to your hosting provider’s support team here:
https://www.df.eu/de/support/kontakt/They should be able to confirm the site’s current status, help restore any missing data (if possible), and verify that your domain is pointing to the correct server.
Let me know if that helps.
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