Author Topic: Feed Won't Validate  (Read 10386 times)

tjfisher

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Feed Won't Validate
« on: December 05, 2009, 01:18:43 am »
Hello,

Just can't seem to get this working... my feeds won't validate. 

This is the error I keep getting:

      Server returned HTTP Error 404: Not Found

In addition, interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendation.

      line 36, column 47: Image title doesn't match channel title

                <title>Source Frequency &#187; Page not found</title>

I should add... I've been using blubrry without any issues now for a couple of months.  My original podcast is no more and I'm trying to create a new podcast.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2009, 01:20:49 am by tjfisher »

angelo

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2009, 10:41:27 pm »
Without a feed for us to look at we're only going to be able to guess what your problem could be.

First guess, you have a page, post or category with the word 'podcast' as the slug value. WordPress only allows you to use the slug keyword 'podcast' once, so if you've used it for a static page or a one word blog post name you're going to get a 404 error. Easy test, go to your site and add /podcast/ and see what it loads, if it loads a page/post then that's the conflict. Example: www.example.com/podcast/

Second guess, you could have a plugin conflict. Disable your plugins one by one and test the feed URL each time. You will want to clear your browser cache every time you disable a plugin, as the 404 page may end up being cached in your browser. If you feed works after disabling a specific plugin, then you know there's a plugin conflict. Please let us know what the plugin is so we can do further testing.

Third guess, Permalink structure you are using is custom and doesn't work well with extended feeds. If this is the case, try accessing your podcasting feed without the permalink by using the following as an example: www.example.com/?feed=podcast. If that works, your permalinks are messed up. We've seen permalinks in WordPress not work, we can't figure out why but the simple fix is to use the ?feed=podcast instead.

angelo

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2009, 02:13:40 am »
Ahh ok, my 3 guesses were completely wrong! Oh, I tried right? :)

Your Podcast feed is empty, which causes WordPress to send back a 404 response. All you have to do is add a podcast episode to your blog and the feed will no longer return the 404 error.

By the way, many podcast directories including iTunes will not accept a feed unless there is at least one podcast episode in it.

angelo

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2009, 02:15:53 am »
One more thought. I created an intro episode for my podcast when I first started so I could start submitting my feed to sites like iTunes. My intro wasn't even 2 minutes long but it did the job.

Tanner

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2010, 04:32:02 am »
I am having some trouble now validating my podcast url @ http://lifedestiny.net/feed/podcast.  I tried doing the http://lifedestiny.net/?feed=podcast.  My custom podcast channels show that my default has two episodes in it.  However, I just posted one to a page and that was it. I did not include any of these mp3s in a new post yet since I have some upcoming interviews I do not want to release just yet.  Could that be the problem? Do I need to actually have a new blog post with an mp3 file in the podcast url entry at the bottom of Wordpress for this to work?

Thanks
Tanner

angelo

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2010, 03:51:48 pm »
Your last thought is correct, you need at least one episode before your feed will be valid. This is the default behavior of WordPress, if the feed is empty (has no items/posts), it returns a HTTP 404 NOT FOUND response rather than HTTP 200 OK. Services such as FeedValidator.org will interpret the 404 NOT FOUND as an invalid feed.

More important to note, you need to create at least 1 episode in your feed before you can submit it to iTunes. iTunes rejects empty feeds.

bcb

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2010, 05:23:50 am »
I'm very new to Wordpress, but I've been going nuts trying to get my rss feed to validate...then same thing with my feed/podacast.

My questions are very basic.

I'm just posting trial stuff for now until I get everything working.

links removed for privacy

Questions:
1.  Does this same rule apply to having something in the rss feed (not podcast) BEFORE validating?
2.  If so, what are the mechanics of actually doing that?
3.  What are the mechanics of placing a podcast into wordpress before validating the feed?
I use Thesis Theme 1.6, WP 2.9 and have installed both Blubrry plugins.

Thanks for all assistance to get past this very basic block.
Bryan
« Last Edit: January 06, 2010, 09:36:58 am by bcb »

bcb

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2010, 07:14:54 am »
Looks like I found my answer to the first 2 questions.
1.  Yes, it does.
2.  Doing a post is what puts something "in the feed." 
IMPORTANT NOTE:  I was testing this site, so I had Settings > Privacy set to not allow search engines to find me.  This must be changed in order for the feed to validate!!!!  Validation will not be possible with WordPress privacy set to not allow search engines in.

Regarding the last question, to place a podcast in wordpress, what does that mean?  Just upload the mp3 into the media section?  Or do I have to place it in a post or otherwise set up a file somewhere...and if so, how.?

Thanks
bcb

mgdell

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2010, 12:26:04 am »
You would upload an MP3 or video file to your server.  Then place the address (url) to it in the "podcast episode" block in a new post (this is added by blubrry powerpress)

What it does is add the MP3 file as an enclosure in the RSS feed so people can download it with itunes or other podcatchers. 

-Mike

fortasse

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2010, 03:27:00 pm »
Hello,

I'm having a similar problem with my feeds validating. I have searched all over and can't find anything that solves my problem.

Basically here's what happened:
My feeds seem to work with permalinks set to default. However, this looks ugly and isn't very SEO friendly. I have tried every possible solution, but when I validate my feed when permalinks are set to /%year%/%monthnum%/%category%/%postname%/, I get a 404.

The weird thing is that I can visit my feed just fine on the site. However, Feedburner will of course stop updating the feed.

I'd really like some help with this. I've pretty much exhausted all other options at this point. I'm running Wordpress on Godaddy Deluxe hosting.

angelo

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2010, 05:42:24 pm »
Can you reply with the address of your blog?

fortasse

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2010, 08:32:51 pm »
Sorry, I was in a bit of a hurry before and forgot to post the URL.

The site is at www.fortasse.com and the primary feed is located at http://fortasse.com/?feed=rss2 , at least that's where the chiclet points.

The behavior is like this: clicking the chiclet will send you to the feed. However, validating the feed generates a 404 with this information

Quote
PROBLEM: FeedMedic Alert for Fortasse
01/06/2010 04:01 PM

FeedBurner had trouble retrieving your Source Feed: http://www.fortasse.com/?feed=rss2

The error message is:

Error getting URL: 404 - Not Found

I will also get a 404 on a validation site that actually RETURNS information from the feed. For example, visit http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http://www.fortasse.com/?feed%3Drss2 . You can clearly see information from my feed. However, the server still returns a 404.

I can confirm that the feeds WILL work with permalinks set to default. However, I believe there has to be some solution to this issue. Setting permalinks to a more human and SEO friendly structure should NOT break RSS feeds. I have tried different permalinks structures too.

Thanks for any help! I appreciate it.

angelo

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2010, 01:19:05 pm »
The support on this forum is for the Blubrry PowerPress WordPress plugin, I think you are looking for support for the Chicklet Creator Wordpress Plugin. You will wnat to contact the developer of that plugin for support. I could not find the plugin on WordPress.org/extend/plugins, you may need to read the readme.txt or the main plugin file to find out how to contact the author.

rcpodcast

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2010, 03:28:33 pm »
I am a bit puzzled. I have a similar problem however my FEED does validate. However I get a recommendation to implement a change to improve my feed because the "Image title doesn't match channel title" I am using your category feeds and I have a podcast published. Here is the feedvalidator.org output. http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http://www.rcpodcast.com/category/all/aerobatics/feed/

Do I have a fixable problem? Or is there nothing to worry about??

angelo

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Re: Feed Won't Validate
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2010, 09:36:06 pm »
First off, your feed is valid, the message you see is a recommendation.

If you turn on Category Podcasting in PowerPress, you can literally edit this specific category and set the category's specific title for this feed. To enable category podcasting, go to PowerPress Settings, near the bottom of the page under the 'Advanced Options', make sure 'Category Podcasting' is checked and then click 'Save Changes'. Then you can go to the new 'Category Podcasting' tab in the left menu, then add podcasting support to this particular category feed, which will allow you to edit the title to be exactly what you want.