Site Address Taken/ Already Exists
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I would like to set up a wordpress blog.
When I enter the name I want, it says it is already taken – yet it is our charity’s domain name and quite unusual.
I tried searching wordpress, it says that name is no longer available, but then that the authors have deleted the blog.
I don’t really understand how it can be taken, but if it has been deleted, is there any way I can request it?
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WordPress.COM does not recycle blog URLs. Once a blog has been deleted, that URL is gone.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/recycling-blog-names/
You can look at perhaps a variation on the name, or perhaps think about buying a domain name for the site and using the domain mapping upgrade.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/register-domain/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/ -
I have encountered exactly the same problem. I do not think it is a good enough answer to say “Once a blog has been deleted, that URL is gone.” We are all human and we can all make mistakes, especially when learning something new.
I recommend that WordPress fixes this problem. In the mean time they should warn users who request a blog URL to be deleted that the name cannot then be used by another blog user, even if it is the same person or organisation.
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It isn’t a problem. It is a policy and they have their reasons for not recycling blog names and you are free to take it up with them if you wish, but I’m not exactly sure how much more clear they can be. Have you read what it says on the site delete page? Do you see that they have even highlighted things in bright yellow? Do you see where you have to click the box next to “I want to permanently remove medicinewheel.wordpress.com and I am aware I can never get it back?”
Here is the whole text from that page:
Please read carefully. You are trying to permanently delete medicinewheel.wordpress.com.
If you do not want medicinewheel.wordpress.com to exist any more, you can delete it. This CAN NOT be undone. It is permanent.
All of your posts and data will be gone forever on this blog. If you have other blogs, they will remain intact.
If you are sure…
I want to permanently remove medicinewheel.wordpress.com and I am aware I can never get it back.
If you could take a sentence to tell us why you’re deleting this blog we would really appreciate it. If you are moving your blog someplace else, let us know where!
Do not delete a blog to re-import or to remove entries. Contact Support for those issues.
Do not delete a blog to transfer ownership – read this Support document.
Do not delete a blog to ‘free the name’. That does not happen.
If you delete your blog your username remains. We do not delete accounts. Your email address cannot be used to create another account, but you can log back in and create as many more blogs as you like.
If you are moving your blog to another host, you may be interested in our Offsite Redirect.
And all of the above is again repeated in the confirmation email that the person will get where they again have to click a link saying, yes I understand it is permanent and still want to delete this site.
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Say if you deleted your blog and now someone else gets your old name. Then let’s say their blog is about a subject you completely disagree with and would never be associated with. So when your family/friends/business associates go looking for you online, they find “your” new blog about a subject you have nothing to do with. Many problems could come from this destroying many things for people.
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The warning you request already exists. It is given three times before deletion becomes final.
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yeah… i want to sign up for a wordpress blog as well. but i keep getting the same message as the OP. I can understand that my original name might have been taken, but it’s not THAT common a name, so i got suspicious and tried a bunch of other random blog names such as “asdfg123mmcrazy” and all of my siblings’ (and my own) names together in one long word. Those were taken as well. that shouldn’t be possible.
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<sigh>
kind of lame, but after 20 minutes of trying to sign-up, and then posting about it here, i go back to the register page, and it still didn’t work. “I wonder what would happen if i refresh the page…”suddenly, the name i originally wanted (and all others) weren’t taken anymore…. i wish i’d thought of that earlier.
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Is it possible to accquire a domain, taken by 3 years old blog that is only created and never used? I kinda understand not-recycling policy, but this seems a bit diferent.
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@laumate
Staff do not release personal information so they will not help with this as it would violate privacy policy. The only way to do what you want is to contact the blogger who created the blog assuming there is contact information and/or comments are open. Then if they agree the blog can be transferred using this method > http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/#transferring-your-blog-to-another-user-or-account -
No it is not. WordPress does not delete or take away blogs from their owners, even if they have never been used.
Leave a comment on the blog asking if the owner would be willing to transfer it to you. If they are, you are good to go. If not, or if they do not respond, then you should think about a different URL, possibly a variation of that URL.
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