3 Steps to Managing Multiple Domains with WordPress-Using Subfolder Setup!

If you want to use sub-domains instead of sub folders, please read my previous boring article instead!

Here is a very boring article on how to manage multiple domains using the subfolder setup of WordPress 3.0.1. Read it only if you have got insomnia (and want to get rid of it fast). ;)

Yes, yes, today I am going to bore you again. You know, I had almost become "reformed" and decided I would not bore anyone anymore :P , but I guess it was all destined to happen… :D Okay, here is the story.

It so happened that I was sooo fascinated by WordPress multisite that I decided  to import one of my older blogs (running on version 2.9.2 on the same server) into it so as to save space and make life easier for myself. And what a crazy decision it was!! Along the line I learnt some new things…

But first, I will bore you by explaining how I setup this new blog in the first place! :D

As my older readers already know, previously I had setup a WP 3.0.1 blog using a subdomain setup, and wrote a boring article explaining how I did it. Personally I prefer subdomain setup, but this time, things were different. My HTML site, which I was going to replace with the WordPress blog, was mainly made up of subfolders! Moreover I am a bit of adventurous by nature-I like to try out new stuff you know, and quickly get bored of routine. So I decided to try to emulate my existing site’s setup-not because of SEO reasons, but because I just wanted to put myself to a new challenge. :D

While using the subfolder setup is a lot easier than the subdomain setup, there are bumpy rides along the way too! :D The first time I tried this, I failed miserably and almost gave up. However, I succeeded the second time. :)

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Perhaps you already know that you can setup "multiple blogs" with the new version of WordPress. You can setup the sites either in a "subfolder" or "sub domain" format. But did you know that you can manage totally separate websites with just one installation? I am talking about managing different top-level domains. :D

Things to keep in mind:

1. The sites you host on WordPress would NOT have a "normal physical existence" on the server; rather they would exist only in the WordPress database.   If you are well-acquainted with the concept of "virtual hosts on Apache" then you know what I mean here! ;)

2. WordPress 3.x sucks quite a bit more RAM than its predecessors. WordPress 3.0 was notorious for sucking as much as 256 MB of RAM, but I hope that the issue has been fixed in the new version. Still, you will need quite a bit of memory to run it. To give you an idea, I have only two "no content, no traffic" sites hosted on WordPress and that alone accounts for a memory usage of 19-21 MB. :D For reasons of disclosure I would also like to mention that I am using the free semiologic theme (my fav) as well as around 64 plugins, one-third of which are active on any given site (now that is because I need different plugins for different sites). I would mention some of the plugins later in this article! ;)

In short, I would really suggest that you go with a VPS (at the very least) if you want to try out the "multisite" feature of WordPress, otherwise version 2.9.2 should be more than enough to meet the needs of a regular WordPress user! :)

3. Even though all the sites would be hosted on the same database, you would still need to go to the backend of each site to manage it – for example, configuring plugin settings, posting articles, etc.  In short, even though they are hosted under the same environment, they would behave like totally separate websites. If you configure the sites correctly, the search engines would also treat them as different sites, rather than part of a single site.

4. For best results, you should install WordPress in the root of your server, e.g., under the "public_html" folder. I am not sure if my instructions would work for an addon domain install, because honestly I have never tried it that way!

5. Lastly of course, if you are on a shared host your webhost has to support it. Some do, some don’t. With a VPS of course you are free to configure the server the way YOU want. :D

Okay, now enough of rambling. Let us get on to the meat! :)

Step 1: Web Hosting configuration:

That are some adjustments you need to do (or ask your web host to do them for you) on your server. Please note that the adjustments I list here would work only for "subfolder" installs! Also you must be using Cpanel™; no I don’t believe that is the best one out there but that is just what I am acquainted with, so if you use something different, this tutorial may not make much sense to you. ;)

a) Ask your web host if they support "mod_rewrite". Most web hosts support it anyway!

b) Please note that all the websites you are going to host on WordPress should share the same IP address as well as nameservers! BTW, this is not something you need to worry about at all unless you use multiple custom nameservers like me. :D

c) Okay, from here on I would say maindomain.com to denote the domain where WordPress is installed, and domain2.com to denote the second domain you are going to add into the WordPress network. I hope that is okay! :)

First, log into the Cpanel of maindomain.com, then click on "Files=>Backups=>Databases" and download a backup of your SQL database (the one used by WordPress)! This is not an essential part of the job but a much-needed precaution! Next, click on "Domains=>Parked Domains" and add domain2.com there as a parked domain. Once done, you should see domain2.com added to the list of parked domains; also under the "Redirect to" column, you should see "not redirected". Perfect! :)

Step 2: WordPress Network configuration:

a) Download a backup of all the WordPress files on to your local hard drive. Again, this is not an indispensable part of the process but would help you in case something goes terribly wrong with your blog!

b) If you are doing what I have done: that is, replacing an existing static HTML site with a WordPress blog, you should copy the existing site’s index file to the /wp-content/themes/ folder and name it home.php. This way, your visitors would still see the old site even as you would be building a new blog behind the screen! With this setup there would be no service disruptions or loss of traffic/sales while you setup your new blog. As soon as you have completed setting up your new blog and are quite sure that everything is alright, you can delete the home.php file to see your blog! :D

This is something I learnt from David’s blog.

c) Next, edit the "wp-config.php" file with PSPAD and just below the line "define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);" add this line:

define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);

Save it and upload the file back to your server!

c) Next, you should increase the memory limit of WordPress too (this is the perfect time to do it). Go to "wp-includes" folder and edit the "default-constants.php" file with PSPAD. In that file, locate this line (about line number 21):

if( is_multisite() ) {
                             define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);
         
Assuming that you are managing a mutisite install (why else would you read this boring article ;) ) and that your max PHP memory limit is about 150 MB, you can change that "64" value to "128" (that is what I have set mine) or anything else you prefer!

EXTRA TIPS: If you don’t know about the PHP memory limit of your server, just create a blank file with PSPAD, name it info.php, and add this code in it:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

(Assuming that you have uploaded the file to the root of your site) Browse to http://domain.com/info.php to check the details of your server’s PHP configuration! SECURITY NOTE: As soon as you are done reading, be sure to delete the info.php file. Some hacker maybe snooping on your site’s security loopholes; why give him away any more information than he already might have! ;)

If you don’t know how to increase your website’s PHP memory limit, ask your host how much memory has been allotted to your account in total. Assuming that you are allotted 150 MB of RAM, just open your site’s .htaccess file (if you don’t have it already, create a blank file, name it .htaccess and upload it to the root of your site) and add the following line (assuming that you want to increase your site’s memory to 128 MB):

php_value memory_limit 128M

Then contact your host again and ask them about your account’s PHP configuration – especially the maximum file upload size limit, maximum post size limit, and maximum PHP session timeout limit!

Armed with the info, re-open the .htaccess file of your site, and add the following (you are free to change these numbers if you wish):

php_value upload_max_filesize 24M
php_value post_max_size 24M
php_value session.gc_maxlifetime 600

in the .htaccess file.

Where:

php_value post_max_size => Denotes the maximum size of a blog post you are allowed to create
php_value upload_max_filesize => Denotes the maximum size of file you are allowed to upload in WordPress
php_value session.gc_maxlifetime => Denotes the maximum number of seconds PHP should wait before terminating a particular session (feel free to correct me if my definition is wrong here; anyway, this helps fixing this issue; regretfully the fix I mentioned there does not seem to work with WordPress multisite, at least I could not get it to work)

WARNING: If you get the 500 internal server error after making the above modifications, delete all the modification rules from the .htaccess file, upload it back to your server, and ask your host to help you in what you are trying to do! :-)

d) Login to WordPress. You should see some a menu now -"Tools=>Network"! Click to go to the network.

e) You would be given two choices here: either subfolders or subdomains. I chose "subfolders". Please be sure that you are choosing what you really want, as changing this option later on maybe quite difficult, if not impossible.  ;)

There are some scenarios described here where you may be given just one choice instead of two!

You would be offered with two text boxes full of codes: one should be copied to your site’s .htaccess file, and the other to your blog’s wp-config.php file, but not before removing that define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true); line from the wp-config.php file! :D

I don’t know about you, but I have the following rules in my .htaccess file:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]

# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ – [L]
RewriteRule  ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule  ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

As far as I can remember, I did not use the default rules of WordPress; rather I copied the rules from here! Of course, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, unless you are having problems! ;-)

Also create two folders called "blogs.dir" and "mu-plugins" under the "wp-content" and CHMOD them both to 755. If you don’t know what CHMOD means, you can read my very boring FTP tutorial! ;)

f) Login to WordPress. Congrats, you have just been promoted to "Super Admin"! :D.

g) Click on "MY Sites=>Add New" to add a new subdomain site to WordPress database.

In the "Site Address" box, enter: domain2 (that is, REMOVE the http://, www. and .com parts of your domain)

The next two boxes are self-explanatory. If you want to be the admin of both sites you should enter the same admin email as the one you entered when installing WordPress on maindomain.com!

Note down the site ID of your new site! It will come handy for your next big step!

Okay, we are done…well, not yet. ;)

Step 3: Domain Mapping Plugin configuration:

a) Previously I had used the free domain mapping plugin, as you can remember. One thing I disliked about the plugin was that the subdomain configurations showed up when the site would load (something over which Rob expressed concerns). One option that was before me was the hard route: that of changing the "siteurl" and "home" by logging into the PHPMyAdmin – but as I am not too techy, I decided to take the easy route and grabbed the professional version of the plugin! :)

I would say it was worth every penny, and Andrea has been extremely helpful not only regarding the plugin configuration but also some other WordPress issues I was having at that time. You can still use the free version of the plugin if you like; I have already explained how to use it in my previous boring article. Compared to the free plugin though, the paid thingy is really easier to use!

If you want to upgrade the free version with the paid one, just delete the existing mapped domains (the actual sites would remain intact), overwrite the respective plugin files, then login to your blog and again map the domains one by one. If you are lucky like me you might see some of the domains already pre-configured, saving you much time. :D

I think you are wondering why I talk more than necessary. Well it is to BORE you! ;-)  

Anyway, I am now assuming that you are using the professional version of the plugin. :D

Upload the "domain-mapping.php" file to "mu-plugins" directory, and the "sunrise.php" file to the "wp-content" directory!

b) Next, edit the "wp-config.php" file with PSPAD and just below the line "define( ‘BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE’, 1 );" add this line:

define( ‘SUNRISE’, ‘on’ );

Save the file and upload it back to the server!

c) Next, click on to "Super Admin=>Domain Mapping". Once there, enter the IP address of your server in the respective box and click save!

e) Okay, now click on domain2.com (you should see this under the "blog domain (Edit)" column on the domain mapping page). Now enter the domain name in the blank box there (just the domain name okay, such as domain2.com) and click "Update". Yay! Your domain is now all setup. To access the backend of your site, you would need to go to "Super Admin=>My Sites", as always! :D

f) I hope everything is clear thus far! The process is so involved that I just hope I am not missing something here, LOL.

MORE EXTRA TIPS (for EXTRA boredom ;) )

a) EXTRA TIP#1: If it is important for you to get rid of the /blog slug at the end of your website URL (it sure was for me), then make the .htaccess file writable by CHMOD it to 666, and change the permalink structure at the super admin level by going to "Super Admin=>Sites=>Edit=>Permalink Structure" (any custom permalink stricture would do, such as /%postname%.php, /%postname%.html, /%postname% or anything else you want). 

Remember that whenever you want to change the permalink structure of your primary blog, always change it at the super admin level; if you change the permalinks at the admin level (as I had foolishly done) you would start getting 404 errors all over the place! This /blog slug was such an annoyance irritation to me that I deleted the entire blog the first time I created it (you remember I told you how I failed miserably the first time?).

Also, I had to do the same thing for changing the permalink structure of a sub-blog (that is, I had to change it at the super admin level to get rid of the /blog slug); my guess is that you would have to do it with any sub-blog you add to the primary blog, unless you map the sub-blog to a domain of your choice using the Domain mapping plugin!

Also, if you want to change the category base name of your primary blog (or the sub-blogs under your primary blog that are not mapped to other domains), you would need to do it under the super admin level by going to  "Super Admin=>Sites=>Edit=>Category Base" (any custom category base would do, such as /articles, /topics, /subjects or anything else you like); if you change it at the admin level you would get…yeah, you guessed it, the dreaded 404 error! :P

Did I say you should CHMOD the .htaccess file back to 644 once you are done changing the permalink structure/category base of your blog?

If you still keep getting 404 errors on your blog, just delete the existing 404.shtml file located at the root of your server; doing that should fix your blog. :D

b) EXTRA TIP#2: Using the WordPress importer plugin

If I am linking to this plugin here, it is only because I have not found a better alternative, otherwise, after my "not so good" experience the last time I used it…

Anyway, the question is: why would you need this plugin? Well, say that you want to import the posts, categories, tags, pages, etc., of an old blog into your new blog, so what you would do is just export all the posts of your old blog by clicking on "Tools=>Export", install the importer plugin on the new blog, click on "Tools=>Import", then click on "WordPress", import the XML file, assign the posts to an author of your choice, and you are done!

Yes, it all sounds very smooth and interesting. Wait until I take you to the more boring depths. :D

As you know, by default most shared hosts limit the maximum php upload size to just 2 MB. Now say that your XML file is more than 2 MB in size, so how would you import the large file into your new blog? If you can get over the upload limit using the methods I outlined earlier (re-read the .htaccess modifications I suggested above, in case you don’t remember), fine. If not, an alternative way is to break down the large XML file into smaller parts. I have found a cool free splitter software that does this as smoothly as hjsplit=>wxrsplitter. You split the large file into say, 6 smaller parts and then upload each part one by one using the importer plugin!

DO NOT ever dump the database of an old blog directly into a new blog, unless both are using the same WordPress versions. FYI, there have been major database changes between version 2.9.2 and version 3.x of WordPress, so if you dump a 2.9.2 version’s SQL backup file on a multisite blog, you can well imagine the mess you would create! :D

Also note that even after you increase the PHP upload size limit with the help of .htaccess, the WordPress importer plugin could still show you the following message:

"Choose a file from your computer: (Maximum size: 1.46484375MB)"

Do NOT panic; just go ahead and upload the big file. What is the worst that could happen anyway- the file simply won’t get uploaded, right? But my experience shows that it would be uploaded just fine (assuming that you have managed to increase your server’s limits using the .htaccess modifications I suggested above)!

Yes I panicked when I kept seeing that dumb message in spite of increasing the php file upload limit via .htaccess. I was getting frustrated but my host was very encouraging, going to the extent of repeatedly showing me my server’s PHP configuration by creating a phpinfo file at the root level (and I repeatedly deleting it out of security paranoia) and even offering to log into my blog to fix my problem. :D

Well, the support guy did not have to go that far; eventually I gathered enough courage to upload the large 3 MB XML file and see what the hell happens. To my amazement, everything got uploaded just fine! Then I concluded that it must be a bug or something else within the plugin itself, and that you can safely ignore it once you are confident of your server’s specs!

So why do I still HATE this otherwise "excellent" plugin? Please read on to find out what a tragic ending I had! :|

Well, as a matter of fact I had imported posts from a 2.9.2 blog to a  3.0.1 blog, and even though all the posts were imported just fine, it messed my blog in 3 major ways:

a) It created a dumb "About" page, even though my old blog already had one-a better one at that, changed the slug of my original about page to about-2, added a new "Uncategorized" category to the blog (something that was not present I the older blog, for I had renamed it to something more discreet), as well as added a dumber "hello world" post which was not there in my old blog. :(

b) That was not all, it created 5-6 new tags I did not have at all! And That is not where it ended!

c) The biggest issue: It sent almost 200 of my blog posts (all grouped under different categories in the old blog), to the "Uncategorized" category! How frustrating! To add to my woes, the "Bulk Edit" option has not been working for me since version 2.9.2, so I had to update the category of each post manually using the "Quick Edit" function! Imagine – editing almost 200 posts that way! Hours of precious business time were lost!

I don’t usually b*tch free plugins, for I feel the volunteers do an excellent job by offering these great goodies to us at no cost. But as far as this plugin is concerned, I gotta say that it needs some ‘SERIOUS UPDATING!".

Anyone else agree with me? :P

c) EXTRA TIP#3: As I mentioned earlier in this article, I am using the free semiologic theme on this multisite blog (in fact I use it almost exclusively on all my blogs)! The one feature I had never used is its "Custom Header" functionality, so I decided to try it out. I wanted to have a unique header image on each of my sub-blogs. So I just gave "World Read Write Execute" (777) permissions to the wp-content folder, and uploaded the header image using the uploader tool offered by Semiologic (Appearance=>Header). Of course, once I was done, I changed the permissions of the wp-content folder back to 755, or I else would get hacked. :P

All went well until I decided to upload another header image on one of my sub-blogs (this sub-blog was mapped to a .com domain, btw). I uploaded a new header image in the same way I had done earlier, and to my amazement, the newly uploaded header image not only showed up at my sub-blog but also at my primary blog; basically, the primary blog’s header was overwritten by the sub-blog’s header image! Very embarrassing, considering that the two blogs are on two different niches. :|

No way I could manage to upload two unique header images on two different blogs using Semiologic’s header tool, so I gave up, and turned to a tool you would least expect me to use at this point – the Advertising manager plugin! I created a new "ad" with the following code (just a makeshift code okay? You would need to edit it based on your own blog’s specs):

<img src="http://domain.com/images/mysweetheader.jpg" alt="My Sweet Header" width="750" height="150" />

Then I went to "Appearance=>Widgets=>Header Area", removed the "Header:Site Header" widget from there, dragged the "Advertisement" widget on to its place, and selected the "ad" I had just created with the header image code! I repeated the process at my other blog too! Voila, now two unique header images are showing up at two different blogs, with none of the incongruencies I had expected!

As they say, where there is a will, there  is a way! ;)

Okay, so you are already bored, eh? Well, I told you so, and I am not even done yet! :D
—-

I think I promised you something else…oh, the plugins! Okay, here is a list of the plugins I am current using on that multisite blog – actually this list is a combination of all the plugins I am using on three blogs of that multisite blog (just the list okay? Already you are so bored! :D ):

Advertising Manager

Akismet (must-use plugin; I dropped both the files – akismet.php and akismet.gif – individually – in the mu-plugins folder; DO NOT drop the entire "akismet" folder there or the plugin won’t work!)

Autolink URI
Bad Behavior
Comment License
Comment Rating
Contact Commenter (if the admin privately replies to a commenter, that reply is also BCC-ed to the admin; no idea why)

CryptX
Disable Trackbacks (coz trackbacks are mostly sent by spammers)
Dagon Design Sitemap Generator
Exec-PHP
Executable PHP widget
FeedBurner FeedSmith
Frame Buster
Google Analyticator
Gurken Subscribe to Comments
Highlight Comments
List category posts
My Brand Login
No Curly Quotes
NoSpamNX
Official StatCounter Plugin
Ozh’ Absolute Comments
Pretty Link
Redirection (if it redirects your blog homepage to a non-existent page, just enter the homepage URL (without "www"), select "URL only" from the next box and "Do nothing" from the third box; this should fix the issue)

Remove Links in Comments

SEO Ultimate (the 404 monitor module of the plugin maybe particularly annoying to some; you may want to disable it after a certain time)

Silence is Golden Guard: A decent plugin that works very well on multisite blogs based on the "sub-domain setup"; however, if the blog is based on a "subfolder setup", the "SIG Guard" option simply does not appear under the "Settings" menu!

Simple Trackback Validation with Topsy Blocker (an enhanced version of the highly useful Simple Trackback Validation; unlike its predecessor, it also takes care of validating trackbacks coming from Topsy.com; both the plugins, when installed on a multisite blog based on the "subfolder setup", seem to work only on the primary blog but not on the sub-blogs; on the other hand, if you map the sub-blogs to individual top-level-domains, then they would work!)

Social Bookmarks: A decent plugin that is compatible only up to WordPress 2.9.2 version. :|

Target Blank In Posts And Comments (if you want to use this plugin please do read my note regarding it here)

TweetMeme Retweet Button
What Would Seth Godin Do

WP Facebook Like (if you have selected to automatically insert it in your blog posts and pages, and if you are also using the Tweetmeme plugin with the same settings, I recommend putting Tweetmeme button at the top and the Facebook Like button at the bottom of your posts/pages, or vice versa; otherwise either of the buttons may not show up properly)

What Would Seth Godin Do

WP-DBManager (because the database manages a network of blogs rather than an individual blog, I have set the plugin to backup the database every 8 hours! Ha! Call me crazy! ;) ; while the plugin page does not mention that it is compatible with WP 3.x, I am using it on my multisite without any issues so far; IMO it is not necessary to activate it anywhere else other than the main blog, because if you look through the database backup file generated by the plugin, you would notice that it backs up the data of the entire network, not just the one where it is activated!)

WP Minify OR AutoOptimize+Wp SuperCache (please read my note below)

WPMS Mobile Edition (you will also need to install the Carrington mobile theme on your blog but DO NOT activate it!)
WP Overview (lite) MU
WP-PostViews
WP-RelativeDate
WP-ShortStat
WP-Table Reloaded
WP-UserOnline
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

Five plugins need special mention here:

a) WP Overview (lite) MU: This plugin would show you the total memory usage by the entire network of blogs. Useful if you are on a shared hosting environment! :)

b) Akismet: If you want to activate the API key of akismet across the entire network instead of having to enter the key manually for each blog, just edit the "akismet.php" file with PSPAD. Below the line "define(‘AKISMET_VERSION’, ‘2.3.0’);", add this line:

define(‘WPCOM_API_KEY’,’YOURKEYHERE’);

Replace "YOURKEYHERE" with YOUR API key! This should effectively enable Akismet across the whole network and hide the Akismet configuration screen for all blogs! :)

c) AutoOptimize+Wp SuperCache: For best results, these plugins should be used together; hence I have put it here this way! ;)

Let me tell you that if WP-Minify is already working great for you, then there is no need to switch to something else! From my experience, Wp Minify works well on standalone WordPress blogs (the pre-3.x versions); however, on multisite blogs, it is quite unpredictable. For one, if you use the "subfolder" setup, it only works well on the primary blog, but not the sub-blogs you add therein. For another, if you use the "sub domain" setup, the plugin would work well on some sites but not on others.

Another weird behavior of the plugin is that while it seems to create the cache fine on multisite blogs built with the "sub folder" setup, it does not seem to be able to build the cache on a "sub domain" setup. I don’t really know why, but judging by the number of plugins that are not yet fully compatible with WordPress 3.0.1, this is hardly surprising.

Yesterday I finally decided to try out Emma’s suggestion of using the Auto Optimize Plugin together with Wp Super cache on both of my multisite blogs and see if it makes any difference in the average page load speed of the sites. It sure did, even if only by a few seconds (I use the speed checker tool at http://www.iwebtool.com/). 

Like I said, both Wp Minify, and Wp Super cache together with AutoOptimize are good; it is just a matter of compatibility – use the plugin that works best for your blog setup!

Personally, I am big on security, site optimization (not just SEO-wise but also speed-wise, since Google™ takes page speed into account when ranking websites) and antispam plugins; the rest could probably take a … backseat, given a choice, LOL! :P

What about you? :)

d) NoSpamNX: I kept the most boring tip for the last! I just wanted to tell you about the anti-spam combo that is working great for me. Right now, Akismet, along with NoSpamNX, are working great for me in driving away the spammers. In fact, ever since I have pasted my WordPress blacklist into the backlist box of NoSpamNX, spammers are having a tough time attacking my blogs with their garbage comments I don’t need!

On an average, barely one or two spammers manage to get around NoSpamNX, that too only weekly (in sharp contrast to the daily spam I used to get) and then Akismet takes over from there. The result? Fewer comments in the "Spam queue" for me to clean up!

Granted that my programmer also did a little bit of custom programming to enhance one of the abandoned plugins out there (I won’t mention it here as I am not officially supporting the plugin anyway), but like I said, NoSpamNX alone blocks at least 90% of comment spammers right at the door!

NoSpamNX works great on this and my other standalone blogs; it also works fine on one of my multisite blogs (based on the sub-domain install); however, on my newer multisite blog (which is what this article is all about) it keeps blocking all my test comments as "Spam". I am not sure where the incompatibility is. I sure don’t want to uncheck the "Block" option in that plugin as that would simply defeat the very purpose of using it. I hope I am able to get around it the problem soon; although I have comments closed on most of the blogs of this multisite blog, it is very frustrating nonetheless!

Further reading:

Using multiple Domains with WordPress MU
How to Use WordPress 3.0 Multisite for a Blog Network
WordPress 3.0 and Domain Mapping
Convert Static HTML Site to WordPress Easily
Will there be a fix for old WordPress installs for multisite functionality?
Warning: WordPress MultiSite is not for the newbie!
All Permalinks redirect to homepage
How do I Import a WordPress WXR file when it says it is too large to import?
Increasing import size limit past 2mb
Exported xml file too big
Please help Import WordPress from admin panel
Semiologic Forum – How can I get rid of the border around text widget in header?
Having problems with configuring wp-super-cache with multisite

This long boring article spanned across 17 pages on MS Word (probably the longest I have ever written), so, if this does not bore you, I don’t know what else will! :P I better make the exit now before I get hotted up for boring so many people. :P (kidding)

But you please don’t forget to post a nice comment okay? Just click here to post a nice comment, thanks! :D

Disclosure: ArindamChakraborty.com is affiliated to Professional Domain Mapping Plugin!