Just three days back my https://nmafzal.wordpress.com became http://atomic-temporary-11156000.wpcomstaging.com/. I want to share my experience of how it started, how it happened what problems I came across while getting a custom domain. It all started with this…
Every time I would login to my Dashboard to make a post or fine tune one I would see this message prompting me to shift to http://atomic-temporary-11156000.wpcomstaging.com/ for a paltry $ 18 per year.
This went on for quite sometime, until I could ignore it no more. So I clicked the un-ignorable link. This took me to a new screen which asked me to fill out some personal details like name, address, phone number, email address etc. And the option to go for an anonymous registration, meaning my personal details like address etc would not be visible to the rest of the world for an additional $ 8, the total sum being exactly $ 26. With a credit card close at hand I waited for the screen to refresh so I could fill in the card number and “get it over with.” But this didn’t work out, because I could not find Pakistan amongst the list of countries that can make a payment. Although the onscreen messages told me that word press accepts PayPal, Credit Cards and even Bit-coins. Left “high and dry” I Googled for more info and the subject and was told that payment could not be made from Pakistan!!! In fact the WordPress help told me to get the payment made from someone in any country other then Pakistan. Phew! I believe we do have a bad reputation elsewhere.
Anyways, I requested a close friend to help out. Thus the payment was done through PayPal form UK. So what actually WordPress does is, it gets you a custom domain and then maps the old address to the new one. All traffic is automatically diverted to the new address. So far I have observed slight decrease in traffic to my Blog, however, the interface and Dashboard etc. is the same old one. I really hope someone at WordPress takes notice of this and makes it easier for us Pakistanis to get a cusotm domain.
My Random Ramblings 
Its not upto WordPress. Payment processors usually tend not to do business in Pakistan. It has somewhat to do with possible fraud, but is more likely because of the draconian government regulations in place which make it insanely difficult to get money into and out of Pakistan.
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Thanks for the insight Zohair. The sufferer is always the common man.
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Indeed.
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Smart move, In future should you decide to move the blog to self-hosted wordpress, The domain will do it for you. No matter where your content is hosted the domain will get mureeds ( like me) to destination. Traffic will come to domain which is now unique and in control by you. You did the right thing.
Frankly, I do not cherish the idea to having my content on a server with no control over it. Who knows which terms of service may come to bite me in the a** someday….. That’s why I host content on self managed wordpress always. But that’s just me.
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I had a Blog up and running (self hosted) on WordPress. But then that and another website got hacked. I was making some money those days (not much just pocket money). After that I vowed never to go for self hosted things. It gives more control, but is prone to hacking. I sold the Blog later.
I like the “Mureed” idea 🙂
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