RSS feed keeps breaking – XML Parsing Error

  • My RSS feeds – website.com/feed – keep breaking.

    In an earlier case I could fix it by removing whitespace from wp-config.php. Apparently whitespaces in plugins can also wreck the RSS feed.

    In this case the validator gives this explanation:

    line 83, column 3: XML parsing error: <unknown>:83:19: no element found [help]

    <wfw:commentRss>

    What does that mean?

    The post does not have any comments yet. The site uses IntenseDebate for comments.

    Since WordPress generates the RSS feed, is there a way to better filter for common issues, so the feeds don’t go down over every little thing?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Thread Starter Modifiedcontent

    (@modifiedcontent)

    I have “fixed” the feed by changing ‘Syndication feeds show the most recent’ in wp-admin from 5 to 3.

    One post seems to be causing problems, although thrashing that post did not fix the feed. I don’t get it…

    Would it be possible to add php code to functions.php that would return some kind of safe ‘null’ in <wfw:commentRss> if ‘no element found’?

    Thread Starter Modifiedcontent

    (@modifiedcontent)

    There is more background about this problem here.

    Very clear explanation here:

    Unfortunately, with WordPress it seems all too easy for a plugin, a theme, or for your configuration file to contain a blank line.

    Removing the last ?> from functions.php fixed my problem for now – I did not know that last php closing tag was optional.

    Fixing the feed by looking for “blank spaces” in wp-config.php, functions.php, etc. + all the plugin files is really cumbersome. I am not even really sure what counts as a “blank space” and what doesn’t.

    Is there no way to filter these “blank spaces” out with some code?

    Someone worked on the same problem here, but he has a command line solution for locally installed code – I have no idea how to get that working.

    This thread seemed to be moving toward a solution until it was derailed by esmi’s catch-all ‘disable all plugins and revert everything to standard WordPress’ solution.

    Thread Starter Modifiedcontent

    (@modifiedcontent)

    And it is broken again. Error message this time:

    The following tags were not closed: rss, channel, item, wfw:commentRss.
    Line: 0 Character: 0

    What does that mean? How to fix it?

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