Delete Blog = Free-up Username & URL?

flamencoexpress2 · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 2:17 pm
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I wish to allow another user access to the username and URL of a blog I set up and no longer need. I assumed that if I deleted the blog that the name would then become free, but on investigation it doesn’t seem to be that simple, and WordPress does not make absolutely clear.
I have tried changing the username and URL in the profile but the desired address is still ‘already taken’.

The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
airodyssey · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 2:19 pm
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and WordPress does not make absolutely clear.

Delete a Website
flamencoexpress2 · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 2:23 pm
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Well that told me, though that wasn’t the screen I saw.
So in spite of the site not existing, the specific URL is gone forever? Seems like people will start running our of names soon.
auxclass · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 2:30 pm
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Yes Gone forever

WordPress.COM does reserve the right to reclaim names at some point in the future or take them away from squatters – but for now – deleted = = gone forever.

I found a couple of cool names last year for friends so still some names out there
flamencoexpress2 · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 2:41 pm
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That’s bizarre. It doesn’t make sense from any standpoint.
Is this just a WordPress thing? Or do they all do it?
auxclass · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 2:45 pm
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Don’t know about other places, but I would think many would, but what if you had a nice family site and deleted it and I then got the same name and turned it into some adult porn site and your mom visited it 6 months later?
flamencoexpress2 · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 3:19 pm
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What would THAT URL read?
timethief · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 3:21 pm
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Once a blog is deleted the URL is not recycled and reused. That’s why there are three warnings and a verification link emailed to your when you delete a blog.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/delete-site/
See here please > http://en.support.wordpress.com/recycling-blog-names/
timethief · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 3:25 pm
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Just another point you may not be aware of. If you purchased a domain mapping upgrade then what the URL of the underlying .wordpress.com subdomain does not matter. It’s irrelevant. If you add domain mapping to an existing blog with posts, their URL’s will change. There will be an automatic redirect for any visitors clicking the old URL’s over to the new ones with the same content, so none of your visitors will get lost out there on the internet. http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/
flamencoexpress2 · Member · Dec 31, 2011 at 4:41 pm
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But they don’t make it clear when you merely change your username and URL in the profile. Which is what I did, thinking that would free up the name for the other user.
Now there’s no way back, and I haven’t deleted either.

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