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Custom domain - DO NOT want to host on WordPress

  1. paul8agrape
    Member

    I really hope I'm not asking something that's already been covered but everything I'm reading about custom domains is how to point your custom domain TO WordPress but not the other way around.

    I own mydomain.com. I also have mydomain.wordpress.com. I want mydomain.wordpress.com to point towards mydomain.com NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Every article I read is about how to redirect mydomain.com to your WordPress blog. I don't want to do this. I simply want to point mydomain.wordpress.com to mydomain.com. I'm willing to buy credits for this but when I go to add a domain, the only option WordPress gives me is to change the nameservers which I don't want to do obviously.

    Is it really not possible to do this? I'm getting ready to jump to Blogger because it is free and EASY to do this with them.

  2. timethief
    Member

    Who is your domain currently hosted by?
    And have you read these? http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/can-i-change-my-blog-domainwordpresscom/
    http://faq.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/how-do-i-take-wordpress-out-of-my-url/
    http://faq.wordpress.com/category/domain-mapping/

  3. timethief
    Member

    You can export the contents out of your wordpress.com blog and import them into another template (free download from http://wordpress.org version 2.3.1) hosted on your own domain. And I'm wondering why you have not considered doing that as you already have a hosted domain.

    http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/05/07/can-i-migrate-my-blog-from-here-to-another-blog-somewhere-else/

  4. sunburntkamel
    Member

    it's kind of backwards. you have to make the change at your registrar first:

    Go to your domain registrar and change the nameservers to the following, being sure to remove any existing nameservers that may be there:
    ns1.wordpress.com
    ns2.wordpress.com
    ns3.wordpress.com

    wait a day, then go to your wordpress.com dashboard, Options > Domains, and add your domain there. wordpress.com will check that the DNS is correct, then you can pay the $10/year for domain mapping, and maintain your current registrar.

  5. wehatehollywood
    Member

    Yes I've read all of this stuff...but again...i can't emphasize enough that I am NOT NOT NOT wanting to change the DNS nameservers on mydomain.com. I don't want mydomain.com pointing to WordPress...I want it the other way around.

    I also found a long complicated document which talks about doing it with opendns.com or services like that.

    My fundamental complaint here is that with Blogger, it is EASY and free to simply point your blog TO (not from) your own custom domain. I'm confused why it's such a pain in the ass with WordPress.

  6. timethief
    Member

    Any further dialog on this is likely to lead you back to staff so perhaps you should contact them during support hours (9-5 PM Pacific time) http://wordpress.com/contact-support/

    Also note that you can export the contents of the wordpress.com blog out in an xml file and import them into another blog on another host.

  7. sunburntkamel
    Member

    wordpress.com can't put your blog at yourdomain.com if the nameservers don't point to it. you're not understanding how DNS works.

  8. trent
    Member

    It could be possible, but it would require the advise from staff on whether or not they would allow it. This can be done through the "support" tab in the forum here. Ask them if they would add your domain that is hosted elsewhere to your "domains" on your wordpress.com blog even though it is not hosted here. Then if they are OK with it, then just point your wordpress.com blog to that domain name in the options and it will redirect it to your other domain.

    If they would allow this redirecting without hosting it here, it would still require you to pay the $10 a year for that ability or whatever staff would designate as the proper amount to pay if they are interested in doing it. They might not want to do it. If they did, the result would be all people coming to your wordpress.com address would be redirected to the domain name, which would be hosted elsewhere.

    So yes, it is possible, but only staff would be the ones to tell you if they would allow it or not, so contact them directly.

    Trent

  9. wehatehollywood
    Member

    Cool thanks for the help. I have contacted them.

  10. timethief
    Member

    @wehatehollywood
    Once you do get your answer from staff, would you be kind enough to return to this thread and share it with the rest of us please?

  11. mark
    Support

    It cannot be done.

    A wordpress.com blog cannot redirect to another domain.
    Only the method described for Domain Mapping works.

  12. trent
    Member

    There you go. That is what I suspected, but thanks to mark for clearing this up for everyone!

    Trent

  13. sunburntkamel
    Member

    for future reference, you can map your wordpress.com blog to another blog, but it does require pointing your DNS record at the wordpress.com name servers, for at least long enough to sign up for domain mapping. (and obviously paying the $10/yr for domain mapping)

  14. wehatehollywood
    Member

    What about this as a solution? I read through it quickly and it made my head hurt but I'm willing to try this if this is what I'm looking for.

    http://andreimaxim.ro/2007/10/25/custom-nameservers-with-wordpresscom/

  15. mark
    Support

    wehatehollywood - we know there are technical ways around this. But there is no support for this and any issues arising from the blog will then get no support. Doing the above would not be a good idea.

  16. wank
    Member

    Screwing around with DNS if you don't know what you're doing is never a good idea.

    (And if you do know what you're doing, you're unlikely to need support anyway.)

  17. andreimaxim
    Member

    mark, I tried to emphasize as much as possible on my blog post that you should only mess with your DNS records only if you're really comfortable with this. However, I don't entirely agree with you. It *is* a good idea to try new things, even if you don't have a safety net. That's how you learn and that's how you evolve.

    wehatehollywood, think carefully why you don't want your domain to use the WordPress.com nameservers. If you care about subdomains or you don't want your email outsourced to Google, think about buying some space and installing a WordPress blog there (there are a lot of hosts with WordPress one-click installs). If my short how to made your head spin, it's likely that you don't have the technical skills to manage your domain on your own. That's perfectly OK, not all of us are made to work well with computers :)

    As a general advice, try to stay clear of solutions in form of a blog entry. Few are true recipes and most of them are just general guides that might work for others. Try to learn as much as you can before following others blindly.

  18. keystrokesuccess
    Member

    t's kind of backwards. you have to make the change at your registrar first:

    These instructions left by sunburnkamel :

    Go to your domain registrar and change the nameservers to the following, being sure to remove any existing nameservers that may be there:
    ns1.wordpress.com
    ns2.wordpress.com
    ns3.wordpress.com

    wait a day, then go to your wordpress.com dashboard, Options > Domains, and add your domain there. wordpress.com will check that the DNS is correct, then you can pay the $10/year for domain mapping, and maintain your current registrar.

    Soumds easy but why do some people say to backup the database before doing this. I just want to get rid of my wordpress.com and have a regular url.com

    Someone please confirm this. I think sunburnkamel knows what he is talking about!!

  19. trent
    Member

    It is possible yes, but unsupported!

    Trent

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