iTunes feed is corrupt

Something, most likely either your WordPress theme or another plugin, is injecting this weird image tag into your feed:

<img>
<title>The UPLIFT Podcast</title>
<url>https://i1.sndcdn.com/avatars-000290706378-rrkhlq-original.jpg</url>
<link>https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/</link>
</image>

That may be causing your feed to break. Log into your WordPress site and go to PowerPress >> Settings, Advanced Mode >> Feeds >> Check the box next to “Do not allow other plugins to modify podcast feeds” and click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.

Hi Shawn

Thanks for the feedback and suggestion.

We already have that option set true.

Its strange how these urls work:

https://upliftconnect.com/feed/feed/
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/

and the ones with /podcast at the end do not ie:

https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/
https://upliftconnect.com/feed/podcast/

I have isolated the broken xml and have screen shots which I can send/attach hopefully once this post is submitted?

Thanks

Heide

Ok so I can’t upload images here. So here’s a link showing a correctly formed <image> tag from one of the above urls that work:

https://dev.upliftconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screen-Shot-2017-08-17-at-12.46.08-pm.png

and following is a link showing a broken <image> tag from the following url: https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

https://dev.upliftconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screen-Shot-2017-08-17-at-12.45.51-pm.png

Also I have updated the itunes image for the category Podcasts under the Artwork tab from

https://upliftconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/avatars-000290706378-rrkhlq-original-009.jpg

to

https://upliftconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/iTunesProfile.jpg

And the update is only showing in the following feed url:

https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/

but not this one:

https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

which is our iTunes feed url.

If you could please look into this with urgency, our next podcast is due to go out tomorrow and is with a high profile individual so its important its published and promoted well.

Please let me know if there is anything I can provide or do.

Thank you so much.

I round an iTunes Store listing for your show here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-uplift-podcast/id1205825756?mt=2

That listing is working off of this channel feed:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

Log into your WordPress site and go to Settings, Advanced Mode >> Feeds >> Podcast Feeds. Do you see the above URL listed there? If not, what do you see listed there that’s close to this feed URL?

When I try to load this feed URL in a web browser:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

It’s coming up as text and not an RSS feed, which is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Hi Shawn

Under Settings, Advanced Mode>> Feeds >> Podcast Feeds we have https://upliftconnect.com/feed/podcast/

But the feed we have submitted to iTunes is a Category Podcasting feed. So under Category Podcasting >> Podcasts (which is our category) >> Feed the Feed URL is https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/ which is the one iTunes is syncing with.

Yesterday I update our iTunes image just to see if that changes anything. And the error on our Podcasts Connect page cleared … whether that is related or not am unsure. The latest podcast is now also showing.

However, we still have the problem of https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/ coming up as text and not RSS due to the broken image tag … I agree this needs to be fixed. The iTunes description is not showing correctly in our iTunes page, which may be related?

The https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/ url used to show as RSS and worked fine until about a week ago.

Thanks

What’s odd is that typically, all WordPress-generated RSS feed URLs end with /feed/ Do you have a category or some other type of permalink function that uses the term “channel”? I ask because I see “channel” in your RSS feed structure but that’s not a standard term WordPress uses.

I think what you’ve done, and I’m not sure how, is you’ve created a weird version of the default podcast feed created by PowerPress.

As noted, when you looked at your PowerPress settings, it showed the feed listed at:
https://upliftconnect.com/feed/podcast/

This feed is valid and appears to be updated with your most recent episode. You’ve said that this feed is a category feed:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

I’m assuming that you’ve created a category that goes like Channel >> Podcasts and you created a podcast feed for that category. So, the logical place for that podcast RSS feed would be:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/

That feed also appears to be valid and is updated with the most recent episode.

I’m not sure how or why you wound up using this as a feed:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

But by sticking that extra /podcast/ on the end, it seems to be causing an issue where I think WordPress is trying to refer back to the default slug of /podcast even tho this is tacked onto a category-based URL. Why this URL is coming up as text, I’m not sure. But the typical explanation for something like this is either a WordPress theme or plugin conflict. A couple of things you can do to possibly help with this feed:
1.) Log into your WordPress site
2.) Go to PowerPress >> Settings, Advanced Mode >> Feeds
3.) Check the box next to “Do not allow other plugins to modify podcast feeds” and click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page
4.) Go to PowerPress >> Category Podcasting
5.) Check the box next to Strict Categories and click the Save Changes button

If that doesn’t help at all with the feed coming up as text only, you can try the suggestions on this page to see if you can diagnose the source of the issue:
https://create.blubrry.com/resources/powerpress/using-powerpress/diagnosing-feed-andor-player-issues-with-powerpress/

Another option would be to implement a 301 redirect from this problematic feed URL:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

To this one which is a category-based feed that’s working:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/

More information on how to implement 301s here:
https://create.blubrry.com/manual/syndicating-your-podcast-rss-feeds/changing-your-podcast-rss-feed-address-url/

Hi Shawn

Thanks for your response. We have found it was our server caching that was casuing the problem. Once all the caching was cleared our feed is now back to normal at:

https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

FYI wrt your comment: I’m not sure how or why you wound up using this as a feed:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

This is the default construct of a feed generated as a category podcast. And now we have cleared the cache its working. So its a valid feed url from powerpress.

Thanks again for your help.

Kind regards,

Heide

Thanks for the update. Glad to see everything’s working. Happy podcasting!

You’ll see the error is back ??
I updated our iTunes image and refreshed the cache and we’re now seeing the same problem.
I’ve put in a redirect to https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/ in the <itunes:new-feed-url> tag under the Powerpress iTunes tab, so when our feed gets refreshed it should pick up this redirect. This is a temporary fix (hopefully) while we work out what is going on!

Hello @hgetrost,

So you are aware, the itunes:new-feed-url would be placed in an old feed, not the new feed. For example if your podcast was at example.com/feed/podcast/, you would go onto taht site and use the new-feed-url setting that way anyone subscribed to that “old” feed URL will be redirected to the new one. Also more importantly, this only works for iTunes applications. In order to capture all podcast applications, you need a 301 redirect from your old feed to your new one. We have instructions how to correctly change feed URLs but I do not think it is necessary as I looked up your podcast on iTunes and the feed URL they have on file is https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/.

As far as your feed getting corrupted, I looked at it again just now and It looks fine. I think what ever is happening it is happening randomly and clears up. Next time if you can take a screen shot and link to that it would allow us to see what you see.

Thanks,
Angelo

Hi Angelo,

Thanks for your message and explanation of the new-feed-url and how that should be used.

Yes it certainly has been random and therefore difficult to establish the cause. Today I set up a seperate instance on our prod server pod.upliftconnect.com with the same content, plugins, server, firewall and caching as our prod website and the following url worked:

https://pod.upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

I then changed wp-config on this instance to point to our prod website and that also worked! Then went back and reviewed prod feed: https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/ and it was working, and now still is!

FYI I had been seeing the following break in the XML which I think is definitely causing the issue with no closing </img> tag.

https://dev.upliftconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screen-Shot-2017-08-17-at-12.45.51-pm.png

When the xml is well formed it looks like

<itunes:subtitle>UPLIFT is a living invitation to discover what is…</itunes:subtitle>
<image>
<title>The UPLIFT Podcast</title>
<url>https://i1.sndcdn.com/avatars-000290706378-rrkhlq-original.jpg</url&gt;
<link>https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/</link&gt;
</image>
<itunes:category text=”Society & Culture”>

This is the RSS2 image. I have now updated it to the correct image (the soundcloud avatar was incorrect).

Q1. How does this <link> to our podcasts listing page get populated within the <image> tag? https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/ ?
I can’t find a setting for this in powerpress

You’ll note in the broken xml this looks like:

“https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/

”

Which might have been causing our problem? ie: breaking the xml?

Q2. Is the RSS2 image important? I think if this problem comes back I will try clear this from our feed settings. Am assuming its used for feeds other than iTunes such as Stitcher etc?

I had asked our server admin to create a redirect on our ubuntu server, as .htaccess is not present for WP on ubuntu. Have asked him to hold off for now to see if this “fix” I’ve somehow orchestrated holds.

Also asked iTunes support to refresh our feed, last refresh has been stuck on 23rd August and unable to update our feed URL on Podcasts Connect. Our two latest podcasts are unpublished ??

Thanks for your time once again.

Heide

Hello Heide,

I now see some problems in your feed. AT the bottom it is adding a snippet of HTML JavaScript code:

<script>!function(e,t,r,n,c,h,o){function a(e,t,r,n){for(r='',n='0x'+e.substr(t,2)|0,t+=2;t<e.length;t+=2)r+=String.fromCharCode('0x'+e.substr(t,2)^n);return r}try{for(c=e.getElementsByTagName('a'),o='/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#',n=0;n<c.length;n++)try{(t=(h=c[n]).href.indexOf(o))>-1&&(h.href='mailto:'+a(h.href,t+o.length))}catch(e){}for(c=e.querySelectorAll('.__cf_email__'),n=0;n<c.length;n++)try{(h=c[n]).parentNode.replaceChild(e.createTextNode(a(h.getAttribute('data-cfemail'),0)),h)}catch(e){}}catch(e){}}(document);</script>

This will certainly cause issues to your feed. It looks like something added by another plugin. The good news is, we have an option in PowerPress to prevent plugins from modifying your feeds.

Go to PowerPress Settings > Feeds tab there is an option titled “Do not allow other plugins to modify podcast feeds.”. Please check this option then click save. You may then need to clear caches to update the feed.

Thanks,
Angelo

Q1. How does this <link> tag in the RSS image get set? – It is the same as the <channel> level link. Some podcast validators will complain if they do not match. When editing the podcast feed (in your case post type podcast feed), the setting is titled “Feed Landing Page URL”. You can set it to what ever URL you wish.

Q2. Is the RSS2 image important? – It is not important, no podcast app that I know of uses it if the itunes:image is set. The only place the RSS image is used is with some search engines and when viewing a feed in Firefox. Sadly there are some very old themes that set this to a favicon image, which is usually smaller than 32×32 which is the absolute worst image size to use for this as its tiny when viewed in Firefox and too small for any modern search engines to use as well.

If you do the option I described in my last reply, then you will no longer have other plugins or themes modifying/changing the feed, which will solve this problem.

If you still want themes or plugins to modify your podcast feeds, you can go to PowerPress settings > feeds tab, and find the setting labeled “Include RSS Image in feeds.” simply uncheck then click save, and PowerPress will no longer add the RSS image to your feed. Keep in mind that some feed validators will find the feed invalid if there is no RSS image set and may also display warnings if the <link> does not match the <channel> <link>. The first option I replied with is the preferred way to solve this problem because of this.

Hi Angelo,

Thanks for your response. I have had that setting under PowerPress settings > feeds tab > Include RSS Image in feeds set the whole time.

What I have found is that it is not applied. If you run the two URLS in this validator you’ll see what I mean:

Base podcast for our website (Special Podcast only Feed):
https://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=https://upliftconnect.com/feed/podcast/
shows the <script> after the rss

Category based podcast url:
https://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/
shows the <script> after the rss

For this url however the <script> is not present
https://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=https://pod.upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/

Do you have any ideas?

I’ll do some more investigating on our test instance to see if the <script> is actually coming from a plugin. Meanwhile we’ll get our server guy to do a redirect to the third url, and/or ask iTunes to update our feed url this one while we work out whats going on.

Thanks for answering my questions. With ref to Q1. where is the setting “Feed Landing Page URL” located? I can’t seem to find it.

Many thanks,

Heide

Note we now have a redirect active on our server from:

https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/
to
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/

which now validates. We had to get something working.

For your ref please use the url https://pod.upliftconnect.com for the above examples (i see i already accidentally have that in the third already)