aLan "Lan" Tait

I am working on adding phpbb to fgbmfi.net and I am working on the exact same problem.

Currently I am using “Google XML Sitemaps with Multisite support”

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-with-multisite-support/

With my own custom PHP script. It would work for single sites but that plugin is not very well maintained. I am trying to modify my script for the version 4.0 beta of the plugin you are using.

You said…

I wonder how I can include the tree of pages that belong to phpbb forum into this sitemap?

Where will you get this “tree of pages”? If you can tell me, I may be able add this, and help both you and me.

I wonder if you have looked at:

Better WordPress Google XML Sitemaps (with sitemapindex and Multi-site support)

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/bwp-google-xml-sitemaps/

This looks more active, and has the options to add extra sitemaps (like for phpbb) and it looks like it was designed to be more efficient for large sites. We all want a large site, right?

As to your question about Google Webmaster. I submitted the .gz version of my sitemap to Google.

https://fgbmfi.net/sitemap.xml.gz

I allow the plugin to also ping Google. For me this submits a slightly different URL. Anyway the results were like this.

The sitemap I submitted via Webmaster was indexed first. Within 3 days for my whole site.

However, the updates that the ping submits are indexed withing about an hour. So my site is pretty much up to date, within an hour of any change. I, like you, thought to remove the Webmaster entry. But then I had a bone infection, had a surgery and basically everything came to a screeching halt for about a month. While I was away Google came to my site once a week and checked my Sitemap, I believe because of the Webmaster entry.

My advice, both submit and ping! It works for me!

You should manually rebuild the sitemap one time after you make a change like that. (click the link near the top) But Google will pick up the changes because they are in the same file location. If you checked to submit to google, it will automatically submit it when you do the manual rebuild.

Instead of setting the permissions to 666 try 777 for a test. If that works, ask your host what their preferred settings are for this situation, It may be something like 705… It is not wise to leave it at 777 unless your hosting company tells you to do that.

I looked at your site and

https://www.customaed.com/sitemap.xml.gz

Looks ok to me…

If you are using a windows server you maybe should look at this solution…

https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/plugin-google-xml-sitemaps-there-was-a-problem-writing-your-sitemap-file-4?replies=2

Ok, let’s play nice.

Sorry I have been away for some time do to a number of things (not the least of which was the storm that killed a couple thousand people in the Philippines, hit just a couple miles from where my daughter and my grandkids live – they are fine now).

David, “I” in my statement does not actually mean “me”, it could and often does mean my wife. She has her own server she shares with a team (5 people). They wanted to do Multi-Networking and tried your plug in. To be sure I did not personally try it.

It went something like this… My wife sort of expects that anytime she wants she can get free computer advice from me. I think she is likely right. However, I do not always pay that close of attention to the problem.

It likely went “I have a problems with Networks for WordPress: Honestly, I just can’t get it to work. It seems to want access to some server areas that my hosting account doesn’t allow.”

Rather than actually listening to what she said, I handed her a flash drive with the file I am using (and had to fix) and said, “here, try this!” She did, it worked, end of story.

My post was in reply to the OP’s question about experience. My post was about my experience and what has happen to me (what I use and what others had asked me when they had a problem with your plugin.) Nothing more.

Because you asked, I did go back and ask my wife’s team what they had a problems with. Their reply was “ServerAlias directives or Host Headers!”

That is basically all I know about their problem with your plugin. As to your code, well gee, all I know is 5 people couldn’t figure it out and they came and asked me, I gave them what I use and they had no problems.

As to your statement that the code is similar. Well, that is likely true enough. ALL code that does the same thing would have to be similar. Meaning folks, code you pay for or code you donate for, or get free is likely similar! (I think the HTTP stack in Windows is still free code that Microsoft uses for free! – But do not quote me!) Personally, I do not pay for any code, but I do donate a lot to people who write good clean code.

Bike at face value I would agree with you. Especially about the trac ticket. I posted it hoping to get an update from the author. Sort of as a road map to making the plugin work. I am NOT the author or the maintainer. The update never happened, so I maintain it myself for my purpose and call it the TuKod (To Code) Multi-Network (for my own use).

On the other hand Bike, something David said gave me pause…

“The only difference is that I have added some UI improvements and user-driven troubleshooting steps in response to issues reported by users.”

That means more code, and more code can slow things down. I have NOT looked that David’s code. But I can say there may be room for a clean and fast code, that guys like me would like, as well as a “we have an easy fix for any that goes wrong.” I did not look at the code David has, but for me, bigger and easier is not the same as faster in a server that is heavily loaded.

Plugins do bog down servers and WordPress websites. Many post are dedicated to that. A plugin that works fine at 100 pages an hour may not work so well at 100 pages a second. What I use is very light on the server, and that may or may not be a factor to someone else also. Again, I am not saying anything about David’s code, other than it is a magnitude larger in size, to do all the extra things.

As for paid software, honestly I have no idea what that is like, but I suspect it is counter productive. The LAST software I actually paid for was somewhere around 35 years ago… I guess that dates me a bit. Even then I rarely paid for software! I do know people who paid for software and got very little or no support or the company / person went belly up with code that cannot be updated… My own opinion is that is against paid software. I am fully Open Source.

coreymj78 if you’ve got the money and it works for you, then good on you!

To Code or not To Code, that is the question…

I write code almost every day. A while back I was joking with someone about a highly modified theme, I jokingly called it “To Code” He wanted me to release it. My wife heard me talking and suggested that some of my better code modifications I do share with others. Now she speaks almost as many human languages as I speak computer languages, and informed me that “To Code” or “Tokod” in the other spelling, in her native language means to build, construct or support! So, I recently added the domainTuKod.com and will be posting there the WP stuff that I am using. The TuKod Multi-Network Plugin I will put there, as well as that “To Code Theme” and a few other things I use or am working on.

I plan to make this a public project, that other people can contribute code to, and if others like it, maybe it will end up on WP.org. Because I use these and update them myself there should be some kind of support for the foreseeable future.

It may be possible to merge the code with David’s code, don’t know, but I am not willing for slowdowns in the runtime side.

That is the beauty of open source, if you are looking for something lean and compact, Tukod Multi-Network will likely do you. If you need something with more bells and whistles and able to fix past mistakes, but perhaps at the cost of more code, David seems eager to support his Networks. And if you want to pay someone because you think that is better, well, you have that option also.

It would be nice if everything worked!

Not quite so fast…

There are some cases…

Example, my sites are accessible mainly from the Philippines but hosted in the USA. There are two main providers here PLDT and Globe and they both have problems accessing the whole of the Internet at times… So I found an address each of them could access well, mapped both addresses to one directory where my WP Multisite / Multinetwork is running 40 different sites, and even when the local companies have backup problems, each can reach the site on its own main trunk connections.

In other words, 40 different domains (and 40 different sites) are running on 2 different IP’s. All domains (sites) can be reached on either IP.

Not exactly the question, but it does show how different IP can be addressed to the same WP Multisite for a specific purpose. There is no duplicate content here, Google loves it and many of the sites are on the first page of their SERP for the appropriate keywords.

To answer the OP… Map each IP to the same folder/directory. Then set up your DNS so each domain points to only one IP. Each domain will come in on a different IP but end up in the same folder and be handled by the same multisite WP.

I won’t predict the outcome of your SEO, we do not have any duplicate info. But let us know… Who really knows what happens over at Google on a day to day basis!

If you are trying to set up different sites like example.com, example.net and example.org, you can do that with a patch you can find here… Check the comments…

https://alantait.net/2011/07/27/wp-multi-network-plugin-fix-for-wordpress/

I just set it up in multisite subdomains and then added the multi-network plugin. It was rather easy. We are running about 36 domain names plus four subdomain names with this.

hope that helps…

Here is my take on the issue… I am sure there are others…

Networks for WordPress: Honestly, I just didn’t get to work. It seems to want access to some server areas that my hosting account doesn’t allow.

Networks+ : Well, if you do not mind spending 30 bucks, maybe they would hold your hand (or wave theirs!). I usually find the paid stuff no better than the free stuff. Their site says…

Networks+ allows you to have:

* two or more networks in one install
* nested subdomains
* top-level domains with their own child sites
* share users, plugisn and themes between them all

NOTE: We do all of that on our system FREE plus we also have child sites without top-level domains… anything at all that has a unique domain/subdomain name. ALL WITHOUT Networks+

WP Multi Network: Before WP3.1 WP Multi Network Ver 1.1 worked great, it was lean and clean, fast and easy. After 3.1 it (ver 1.1) was broken and the author seems to be doing little about it. However, there is in the SVN a version 1.2, sadly it still has a few bad link problems. To that end there is a version 1.3 attached to a trouble ticket.

What We Use…

We 40+ sites across about 3 dozen domain names (the rest are subdomains). We use WP Multi Network version 1.3 that I attached to this trouble ticket…

https://plugins.trac.www.ads-software.com/ticket/1356

You can download it there at the bottom, put it in your plugins folder and it works.

If you want to read the boring details… try looking at what was changed here…

https://alantait.net/2011/07/27/wp-multi-network-plugin-fix-for-wordpress/

I have absolutely no problems with this on a standard hosting plan.

My wife is asking this simple plug-in be forked and actively maintained and developed because it works so well with no problems. It is one of that simple things that adds so much…

@ashokankid

Would you like a fork of the Atahualpa Theme? Read on!

I think there are many (like me) that echo your last thoughts. Nonetheless, even with the patch or fix, Atahualpa is still one of or perhaps the best theme for MultiSite installs and Multi Networks.

We have it working, in production, on a network of more than 3 dozen sites.

In fact it works so well, a few people are talking about a fork of Atahualpa, humorously referred to as “To Code!”

If you are interested in this, perhaps you would add a comment about a problem or feature you would like to see resolved/added to “To Code”.

https://alantait.net/2011/07/31/to-code-the-new-atahualpa-wordpress-theme/

Let me stress, EVERY ISSUE addressed in this thread (as well as a number that are not) are already resolved in the “To Code” Fork and it is running on a number of network sites.

This Mature Code was offered to the developers of Atahualpa for each of the last seven releases. It has not only been rejected, most threads about it on their “support” forum have been deleted.

Recently the support forum was changed from free to a paid basis.

The main developer is working on a new PAID Theme. Since the beta of the paid theme was released, Atahualpa has not been actively developed. In fact a number of newer releases (problem fixes) have actually lost features.

These are all reasons to support the “To Code” Fork or we all may be shelling out 160 bucks for paid “Atahualpa Like” Theme.

My wife is replacing one of my grandkids computers and I am upgrading my Ubuntu, so in a few weeks I will again have a “development server” to give this a try on.. I will see what I can find…

@jjj
If Brian would like my help on either prettying the code of wpmn or even (future) bug fixing, I am willing, but I do not know how to contact him to offer help…

I whole heartedly agree, yea for open source!

I also agree it needs some prettying… The code prettying I did was just to allow me to find what I needed to fix that was broken, and to present a little more logically visually useful information (like the program name and moving its into the more logical sites area from settings).

Brian is doing a great job! My goal was to get a fully functional plugin working on our production sites.

However, that being accomplished (and knowing you and Brian are busy on other projects as well) I can volunteer some time to prettying up the code, line by line, if Brian would like it. I am (in theory) retired, been writing code since I worked for DARPA on ARPANET (about four decades) and have been playing with PHP since it was called Personal Home Page (about a decade and a half). I am new to WordPress (about 9 months) and currently have only about three dozen sites.

I do not know the ins and outs of how to get in touch with Brian, however, I am willing to help if he wants it. From my prospective, this is a vital plugin.

My wife is very interested in bbPress. But I expected problems with our WordPress Install and the WP Multi-Network Plugin.

Now that I have finished patching the broken WP Multi-Network Plugin for WordPress

https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/plugin-wp-multi-network-wp-multi-network-broken-solution

Do you think bbPress 2.0 RC 2 may support WordPress MultiSite in Multi-Network mode?

Here is what you want to do…

Download the latest version of WordPress and install it with the instructions about Create A Network…

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Create_A_Network

Use the instructions for Sub-domains
Do NOT use Sub-directories

After you have two sites working on Sub-domains, for example…
site1.example.com
site2.example.com

Then you can add the WP Multi-Network plugin.

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/wp-multi-network/

However, WP Multi-Network Version 1.1 breaks with WP3.1.x and 3.2.x

WP Multi-Network Version 1.2 is in the repositories, however it also have two important broken links.

WP Multi-Network Version 1.3 is uploaded on a ticket. It is now working in about 50 known production sites with WP versions from 3.1.3 to 3.2.1, and it should work on all 3.x sites.

You can find the download links for the one replacement file at:

https://alantait.net/2011/07/27/wp-multi-network-plugin-fix-for-wordpress/

Look at the bottom for the file, and the comments for links to the www.ads-software.com uploaded file.

There are other ways and other plugins (free and paid) but this is what I do and it works great on dozens of sites for me.

I have a (slightly off topic) question for the people following this thread…

Atahualpa was originally designed in the days before automatic updates. Anyone who has built an Atahualpa site with custom headers, custom logos, custom favicons or custom functions, knows doing an automatic update is a nightmare you will not forget! Likewise the them dev team is working hard on a new PAID theme, so real updates like non FTP sites (upload images via WP Image Uploader) or multi-sites or automatic updates or custom functions are all in the new theme you need to pay for, the old theme is just basically maintained with new versions of WordPress, but it is still very very powerful.

There are a group of developers “out there” (myself included) that have real solutions for all this and extra bells and whistles too! We have file sharing etc, and among ourselves we have hundreds of WordPress Blogs. In fact, among ourselves, we joke about a
Super-Atahualpa. Recently it has been suggested that we actually release this… Super-Atahualpa! Of course we would find a good new name to avoid confusion name… Right now it is called “To Code!”

The idea is that we would keep it current, any patches would added to a point release and you could fix it with just an automatic update…

We just wonder if anyone would like a FREE theme as a fork of Atahualpa that was designed to be easier to use?

The main goal would be an expanded Theme, more features, and easier to use for newbies and people with less experience. No “patching” (my wife is afraid “to code” as she calls installing a patch or bug fix).

Plus, being a cooperative theme (fork) it would allow many new features,from different programmers, tried and true – and tested too!

So give me a yea or nay… should we make a new free and cooperative fork of Atahualpa, easier for people to use that have little coding experience, and with expanded features and abilities?

Thanks for you time… you opinion matters to us. If we make this new them or not is really in your hands… We are listening. Remember this code is already written for us… I personally have it working on over 3 dozen sites. With over 40 years of writing code, we do it easy, should we share with you so this is easy for you too?

Want to vote on this? Go here…

https://alantait.net/2011/07/31/to-code-the-new-atahualpa-wordpress-theme/

Hi Cupcake, I like your idea, I am going to pass it along to my students as it is simple and straight forward solution.

The one I use is to have two copies of the them. For example if you have one folder called atahualpa you can have another folder called atahualpa-test

Load atahualpa-test with what you want to test and switch theames to the test. If it doesn’t work, switch back in a second and you have lost nothing. You can even run on the test while modifying your main theme.

However, for building with a complex theme, I like your idea better, as this could take days… or you may want to build a whole new layout! Great idea Cupcake!

the new file is here….

https://plugins.trac.www.ads-software.com/ticket/1356
you can try this…