[Feature Request]: UI for redirecting non existent blogs

[Zodiac1978]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

There is a constant available:
https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/wordpress/wp-config/#redirect-nonexistent-blogs

But no UI.

Describe the desired solution

Connecting it to a specific landing page would be great.

Describe the alternatives that you have considered

n/a

Additional context

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[zhyian]

Hi @Zodiac1978 and @lloc
I spent some time investigating this issue and exploring possible implementation options, and I’d like to share my thoughts with you.

The core problem is timing and WordPress loading order:

1. wp-config.php loads
2. wp-settings.php starts
3. Must-Use (MU) Plugins load
4. Multisite bootstrap runs
   └> ms_site_not_found hook fires HERE
   └> NOBLOGREDIRECT constant checked HERE
5. Plugins load (plugin loads here - too late)
6. Theme loads
7. init hook fires

The only viable ways to handle NOBLOGREDIRECT or the ms_site_not_found hook are via an MU plugin or by modifying wp-config.php directly.

From my perspective, the main issues with both approaches are:

• Security risk (exposing critical file)
• Permission denied on most servers
• Hosting providers prevent this
• Version control conflicts

To sum up, I wouldn’t recommend implementing this using any of the methods mentioned above. I’d be happy to hear your thoughts and ideas on this. Thanks!

[Zodiac1978]

It looks like this is a dead end. Would it be possible to modify core to better support this use case? Otherwise we could close this issue.