Incorrect link URLs (not a problem with WP RSS Aggregator)

  • Resolved tcloud

    (@tcloud)


    7 years, 3 months ago

    Using WP RSS Aggregator at https://cloud-assn.org (the resulting list of posts is at the bottom of the page).

    Can someone help me make this feed work? It used to work and now WP RSS Aggregator gives incorrect link URLs to the posts (The error appears to be with the bulletin board RSS feed and now with WP RSS Aggregator).

    The feed validor (W3C Feed Validation Service) fails with various errors e.g. date format, guid URL, etc. but Cast Feed Validator ( https://castfeedvalidator.com ) creates results similar to what WP RSS Aggregator creates for my web site and the links are incorrect here also.

    I can make it work by changing the URLs in the database table, but then the plugin pulls in duplicate posts with the incorrect URL.

    The RSS feed URL is:
    https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.cloud/rss.xml

    URL returned for the most recent post is:
    Incorrect — https://www.ancestry.com/surnames.cloud/1236/mb.ashx

    this should be:
    https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.cloud/1236/mb.ashx

    The RSS SML looks like this for the most recent post:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rss version="2.0">
	<channel>
		<title>Cloud - Family History & Genealogy Message Board</title>
		<link>https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.cloud/mb.ashx</link>
		<pubDate>2017-09-01 01:17:25Z</pubDate>
		<image>
			<url>https://www.ancestrycdn.com/ui-static/i/logo/ancestry.svg</url>
			<title>Cloud - Family History & Genealogy Message Board</title>
			<link>https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.cloud/mb.ashx</link>
			<width>175</width>
			<height>38</height>
		</image>
		<item>
			<title>Killed - John Cloud - 9 January 1860</title>
			<link>/surnames.cloud/1236/mb.ashx</link>
			<description>Article appears in The Adams Sentinel. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Monday, 9 January 1860 reads...<br><br>MAN KILLED<br><br>A man named John Cloud, was killed by the passenger train of cars, on its way down from Marietta to Columbia, on Saturday morning last, running over him, between tunnel at "the point," and St. Charles' Furnace.  The unfortunate man was dreadfully mangled, his skull being smashed and his leg crushed off near the ankle.  Doubtless, whiskey was the prim or the first cause of his death, a bottle of it being found on his person.<br></description>
			<pubDate>2017-09-01 01:17:25Z</pubDate>
			<author>maryachtrh</author>
			<category />
			<guid isPermaLink="true">/surnames.cloud/1236/mb.ashx</guid>
		</item>

    Any suggestions appreciated.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • Hi @tcloud,

    The reason why it happened to give the incorrect URL is most probably because the <link> value in the original RSS Feed is not using the full URL.

    Please see the screenshot below:

    incomplete URL

    In order to get the correct URL, we believe the value should be:
    https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.cloud/1236/mb.ashx

    instead of only:
    /surnames.cloud/1236/mb.ashx

    Do you have control or be able to contact the RSS Feed Provider to have them change those values?

    Thread Starter tcloud

    (@tcloud)

    Thank you for the reply. I do not have access to the ancestry.com team that maintains the rss feed. I pretty much knew in advance of asking the question that this would have to be a kluge to the plugin to rectify the error in the feed.

    Hi @tcloud,

    If contacting the RSS Feed Provider is out of the question, then the alternative way will go down to a custom work in displaying the link in your Feed Items display.

    You can make use of this filter to set or replace the displayed URL to be added with the /boards string so that they will reflect the correct URL.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘Incorrect link URLs (not a problem with WP RSS Aggregator)’ is closed to new replies.

Tags