<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Just to <a href="https://wordpress.com/pricing/" class="">clarify</a> re: "if WP was going to be potentially not supporting free sites anymore” :<div class="">1. <a href="http://WordPress.com" class="">WordPress.com</a> will continue to offer ad-supported, free sites.</div><div class="">2. Using a custom domain (without forwarding/redirecting) has always been a paid upgrade on <a href="http://WordPress.com" class="">WordPress.com</a>.</div><div class="">3. Shel does have the correct understanding now that to use a custom domain name while avoiding paying fees to <a href="http://WordPress.com" class="">WordPress.com</a>, one must use the free <a href="http://WordPress.org" class="">WordPress.org</a> software on their own hosting service.<br class=""><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Greg<br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On May 24, 2019, at 2:28 PM, Shel Horowitz via Hidden-discuss <<a href="mailto:hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net" class="">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">Thanks, folks. I ended up deciding that if WP was going to be<br class="">potentially not supporting free sites anymore, there was no advantage<br class="">to using them. So I bought a domain and will set up a WordPress blog<br class="">within my existing hosting partition at HostGator.<br class=""><br class="">On 5/24/19, Richard Danek via Hidden-discuss<br class=""><<a href="mailto:hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net" class="">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net</a>> wrote:<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Sorry if this appears a 2nd time. Sam McClellan seem to have received it<br class="">when I replied (apparently only to him).<br class=""><br class="">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br class="">From: Richard Danek <<a href="mailto:rcdanek@gmail.com" class="">rcdanek@gmail.com</a>><br class="">Date: Fri, May 24, 2019 at 9:33 AM<br class="">Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] <a href="http://WordPress.com" class="">WordPress.com</a> question<br class="">To: Sam McClellan <<a href="mailto:sam@itabix.com" class="">sam@itabix.com</a>><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">I just tested <a href="http://Wordpress.com" class="">Wordpress.com</a> to see what's changed. I was able to select a<br class="">free site. It let me chose a name that was inserted before "<a href="http://wordpress.com" class="">wordpress.com</a>".<br class="">So, the sites final name was <a href="http://rcdinfo.wordpress.com" class="">rcdinfo.wordpress.com</a>. I actually didn't<br class="">finish setting up the site. I just wanted to see where you were forced to<br class="">pay. *You still have the free option.*<br class=""><br class="">You have to look for it, though. (I found it at the top of the page in the<br class="">description above the table that has the different prices/levels.)<br class=""><br class="">Now, on to domain names. You can use any registrar to pick a domain name. I<br class="">use Google <<a href="https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/#" class="">https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/#</a>> because they are only<br class="">$12/year. The price is higher for some of the newer domains (like<br class="">.photography). The thing is, once you have a domain name, you can change<br class="">its records to point to the Wordpress site.<br class=""><br class="">Here's an example. My wife and I have a baking show that we produce every<br class="">once in a while. I registered "<a href="http://oomas.info" class="">oomas.info</a>" on Google. So, that's my domain.<br class="">The site is hosted on Wordpress as <a href="http://oomascookiejar.wordpress.com" class="">oomascookiejar.wordpress.com</a>. I used<br class="">website forwarding to make it work so that anyone going to "<br class=""><a href="https://oomas.info" class="">https://oomas.info</a>" gets forwarded to the Wordpress site, "<br class=""><a href="https://oomascookiejar.wordpress.com" class="">https://oomascookiejar.wordpress.com</a>".<br class=""><br class="">The name in the URL banner always says <a href="http://oomascookiejar.wordpress.com" class="">oomascookiejar.wordpress.com</a>.<br class="">Someone might object to that. I figure that once someone lands on your<br class="">page, they're going to use buttons and links to maneuver. Lots of sites<br class="">have long URL's at that point and no one seems to mind.<br class=""><br class="">So, free is still there.<br class=""><br class="">(I did find one registrar that supposedly allowed you to keep the "<br class=""><a href="http://oomas.info" class="">oomas.info</a>" name in the URL throughout. It might have been GoDaddy. They<br class="">wanted $20/year for the same domain name registration so I said NO to<br class="">that.)<br class=""><br class="">On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 3:31 PM Sam McClellan via Hidden-discuss <<br class=""><a href="mailto:hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net" class="">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net</a>> wrote:<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Maybe I'm misunderstanding, <a href="http://Wordpress.com" class="">Wordpress.com</a> does have a free account but<br class="">you<br class="">can't have your own domain with it. It should not require you sign up for<br class="">a<br class="">paid plan unless you want something that's not included in the free plan<br class="">such as your own domain.<br class=""><br class=""><a href="https://wordpress.com/pricing/" class="">https://wordpress.com/pricing/</a><br class=""><br class="">Sam<br class="">--<br class="">Sam McClellan<br class="">Itabix, Inc<br class="">Web Development, Hosting and Domain Registration<br class="">sam@itabix.com<br class="">http://itabix.com<br class="">Main - 413.587.4600<br class="">Toll-free - 877-7ITABIX (877.748.2249)<br class="">On 5/23/2019 11:17 AM, Mark D. Hamill via Hidden-discuss wrote:<br class=""><br class="">Unfortunately, that's not an option anymore. You have to buy a plan. The<br class="">cheapest is $3/month for a blogger account.<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/#steps-for-mapping-a-domain<br class=""><br class="">On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 11:12 AM Shel Horowitz via Hidden-discuss <<br class="">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">I'm trying to set up a freebie blog for a community group on<br class="">WordPress.com. It would be hosted on WordPress.com and not on a domain<br class="">of<br class="">ours. But after it has me set everything up, it's requiring me to buy a<br class="">domain sand sign up for a paid monthly plan. How an I set up a freebie<br class="">account as I've done in the past?<br class=""><br class="">Thanks!<br class=""><br class="">Shel Horowitz - "The Transformpreneur"(sm)<br class="">________________________________________________<br class="">Watch (and please share) my TEDx Talk,<br class="">"Impossible is a Dare: Business for a Better World"<br class="">*http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809<br class=""><http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809>**<br class=""><http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809>*<br class="">(move your mouse to "event videos")<br class=""><br class="">Contact me to bake in profitability while addressing hunger,<br class="">poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change<br class=""><br class="">Twitter: @shelhorowitz<br class=""><br class="">* First business ever to be Green America Gold Certified<br class="">* Inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame<br class=""><br class="">http://goingbeyondsustainability.com<br class="">mailto:shel@greenandprofitable.com * 413-586-2388<br class="">Award-winning, best-selling author of 10 books. Latest:<br class="">Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World (co-authored with Jay Conrad<br class="">Levinson)<br class=""><br class="">_________________________________________________<br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net<br class="">Hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net<br class=""><br class="">You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion<br class="">list.<br class="">If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members<br class="">page on the Hidden Tech Web site.<br class="">http://www.hidden-tech.net/members<br class=""><br class=""></blockquote><br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page:<br class="">http://www.hidden-tech.netHidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net<br class=""><br class="">You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion<br class="">list.<br class="">If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members<br class="">page on the Hidden Tech Web site.http://www.hidden-tech.net/members<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net<br class="">Hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net<br class=""><br class="">You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion<br class="">list.<br class="">If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members<br class="">page on the Hidden Tech Web site.<br class="">http://www.hidden-tech.net/members<br class=""><br class=""></blockquote><br class=""></blockquote><br class=""><br class="">-- <br class=""><br class="">Shel Horowitz - "The Transformpreneur"(sm)<br class="">________________________________________________<br class="">Watch (and please share) my TEDx Talk,<br class="">"Impossible is a Dare: Business for a Better World"<br class="">*<a href="http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809" class="">http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809</a><br class=""><<a href="http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809" class="">http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809</a>>*<br class=""><br class="">Contact me to bake in profitability while addressing hunger,<br class="">poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change<br class=""><br class="">Twitter: @shelhorowitz<br class=""><br class="">* First business ever to be Green America Gold Certified<br class="">* Inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame<br class=""><br class=""><a href="http://goingbeyondsustainability.com" class="">http://goingbeyondsustainability.com</a><br class="">http://transformpreneur.com<br class="">mailto:shel@greenandprofitable.com * 413-586-2388<br class="">Award-winning, best-selling author of 10 books. Latest:<br class="">Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson)<br class=""><br class="">_________________________________________________<br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net<br class="">Hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net<br class=""><br class="">You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list.<br class="">If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members<br class="">page on the Hidden Tech Web site.<br class="">http://www.hidden-tech.net/members<br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></div></div></body></html>