Earlier today I discovered that Feedburner was hating on my syndication feed. I was getting this error:
XML Parsing Error: xml processing instruction not at start of external entity. Line Number 2, Column 1:
It took me a while, but some research turned up an answer – apparently there are some plugins out there that push all the code on every page down a line. For syndication feeds, this is a very bad thing, since they are built on XML code and the XML identifier is required to be the first thing a reader sees in order for it to work. In my case, it was probably a plugin that was pushing everything down so I started shutting plugins off.
I’m chagrined to discover that my feed has probably been very unhealthy for several days now. I discovered two plugins that were creating problems, one of which I’ve had activated for a couple of weeks. Category Converter was the first, so if I find I need to use this one again in the future, it will get activated, used, and turned right back off again. The other was one I’d wanted to try out because I’ve noticed that some of my posts are getting scraped and posted elsewhere. Most of these have links back here but are being credited to those sites’ owners. I’m not all that upset about it, but it is kind of annoying and discourteous. So, I’d decided to give Antileech a try today. Except – this plugin also bumps everything down a line, thus rendering my feeds essentially dead. So, a no-go to that one, as well.
Odd thing is this – I’m subscribed to my own feed, primarily to monitor its health. Everything has been coming through just fine every day, albeit sometimes hours after the fact, but so long as they were coming through, I wasn’t all that concerned. So, I’ve no idea why, with my feed essentially being invalid, I’ve still been getting updates on a regular basis. Those of you who subscribe to my feed – have you been getting daily updates? And maybe someone who knows and understands XML and RSS coding a little better than I do can explain to me why the feed can be invalid and yet subscribers can still receive updates. I’m all ears.
So, lesson to the wise – every time you install and activate a new plugin, check your feed immediately and make sure it’s still working. Some plugins may not like your syndication all that well.
Tags: antileech, category-converter, feedburner, feeds, plugins, rss, software, syndication, WordPress, xml
I apologize to all me email subscribers. The Feedburner email did not go out last night like it normally does. I updated one of my plugins yesterday, and the update unfortunately broke my RSS feed, which the email subscription tool needs in order to check for the latest updates. I’ve found a temporary fix for the problem, so the email should issue tonight per usual.
Tags: feedburner, plugins, software, WordPress
Feedburner has finally added an email subscription feature that I like quite a bit more than the FeedBlitz tool I was using previously. The format of the email that Feedburner sends out is less graphicly heavy (and gaudy) than FeedBlitz’s, looking much more like the feed page that you see when you click on the link on my front page. As a result I’ve switched the subscription form so that when people sign up to receive new posts by email, it will now come from Feedburner rather than FeedBlitz.
For those of you currently subscribed, if you’d like to receive a simpler-looking email, feel free to subscribe to the new format (and unsubscribe from the other). Or email me and I can take care of making the switch for you, leaving you with just having to click on the link in the confirmation email for the new subscription.
Additional note: Make sure to check your filters and your spam folder before emptying it, as the confirmation email may get redirected away from your inbox, and no email will be sent until the address is confirmed.
Tags: email-subscriptions, feedburner, plugins, rss, software, WordPress
Writer’s Blog has happily joined the ranks of WordPress 2.0, and I must say, the backend of this thing does look nice. So far there are no major complications, but please let me know if you run across any errors or notice anything that doesn’t look or operate quite right.
Edit: I’ve already found a problem with my RSS feed. I’m still working on sorting it out….
Edit: RSS problem seems to have been fixed with a simple URL change inside FeedBurner that points directly to my WordPress feed file. Looks better, at least….
Tags: feedburner, rss, software, WordPress
Is it sad to get all excited about a couple of relatively minor geek-tweaks to my site? Probably, but I don’t think I care all that much. I’ve been working on implementing ways to publish my site more widely and expand my readership. Today, for instance, I registered Writer’s Blog with blogtopsites for site ranking and advertising my site. I also redirected my RSS feed to FeedBurner to help me actually see how many people subscribe to my feed. So, if you use a feedreader like FeedDemon or Thunderbird, or if you use a browser that tracks Live Bookmarks, like Firefox, then I can keep track of how many subscriptions call my feed and what service reads them. And to make things even better, the little tracking icons in my sidebar keep a running total of site rank and subscription count. It’s pretty cool information to have, and for a numbers geek like me, it could even provide some interesting analysis later on. So, feel free to bookmark my site with a Live Bookmark or subscribe to my feed. If you’ve already subscribed to it via the old feed (i.e. before today), then I would be most appreciative if you would update your feed with the new one.
Happy reading!
Tags: blogtopsites, feedburner, firefox, geek, rss, Technology, thunderbird, WordPress
