The title “Setting Up a Multi-Site Blog with WordPress” might sound confusing, so let me explain. A multi-site setup is similar to platforms like the Chinese Blog Alliance or AiXieZi, where users can register and each create their own independent blog within the backend.

In the past, you could use WordPress MU to achieve this. However, WordPress officially merged WP MU with WP. When I searched online, I found very few tutorials on this topic, so I decided to write a detailed guide here.

Setup and Configuration Steps:

1. Go to your domain DNS settings: Add a wildcard * A record for your domain (the * represents wildcard DNS resolution).
   (Using my site as an example: My main site is imzl.com, so I need to create a main web domain A record, then create an additional * A record.)

2. Install the latest version of WordPress. Edit wp-config.php and add the following line above the comment that says “That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing.”:
   define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);

3. Create a blogs.dir folder inside the wp-content directory with 755 permissions. (You can skip this step — this folder stores media files uploaded by sub-sites and will be created automatically later.)

4. Edit wp-config.php, remove the code added in step 3, and replace it with the new code.

5. Edit the .htaccess file and replace everything between # BEGIN WordPress and # END WordPress with the new code.

• Log back into the WordPress admin. Click “Howdy, [your name]” in the top right corner — do you see “Network Admin” in the dropdown? Click on it.
• Enter the Network Admin area. First, set the sub-site language to Chinese in the settings (or you can keep it in English). Then you can start creating sub-sites.
• If you enable registration, you can turn it into a platform similar to the Chinese Blog Alliance.

Important Notes:

1. If you’re using cPanel, do not enable cPanel’s hotlink protection after activating WordPress multi-site, or you’ll run into trouble immediately.
2. For WordPress multi-site mode, use cPanel hosting, a VPS, or a dedicated server, as DirectAdmin panels apparently don’t support wildcard DNS resolution.
3. To manage plugins from sub-sites, you must check the “Plugins” option in “Network Admin → Settings → Menu Settings.”
4. Some plugins may encounter issues in multi-site mode — you’ll need to investigate those on your own.