BlogLovin, And Blogs Publishing Feeds Through FeedBurner

We're seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about BlogLovin, and their inability to accept feeds from Blogger blogs.

My feed on Bloglovin is not updating correctly, so I emailed BlogLovin Support. They responded, and said it was because my RSS feed isn't working correctly.

When diagnosed, we frequently see a working posts feed, redirected through FeedBurner.

It appears that BlogLovin is not able to properly accept some (or all) FeedBurner redirected feeds. The most obvious solution here would be to setup BlogLovin properly, to use a non redirected feed, so they get the native Blogger posts feed.

Upon trying to test my diagnosis, using my test blog, it appears that adding a blog to BlogLovin requires publishing a new post, with their Follow button conspicuously located.

Paste this text into a new blog post:

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10757427/?claim=ge8y4cfhqfx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

In some blogs it's necessary to put the code in the top of the blog post

It does not appear to be easily possible to specify the blog feed, in this case. It appears that BlogLovin extracts the blog feed, using the feed autodiscovery meta code, in the blog template.

It appears that any solution to the problem with BlogLovin vs FeedBurner redirected feeds will require involvement with BlogLovin Engineering.

1. Convince BlogLovin Support to make their service accept FeedBurner feeds.
2. Convince BlogLovin Support to make their service filter feed redirects.
3. Discontinue FeedBurner from your feed redirect.
4. Figure out how to specify a non redirected feed to BlogLovin.

I'm not hopeful that #4 has any future.

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Confusion About The Post Feed Redirect Feature

The world of Blogger blogs contains a lot of confusing terminology.

Some Blogger features don't even have names. Some names, which I use, are terms which I made up on my own, years ago - simply because Blogger did not provide a name, at that time. One term, which Blogger did give us, still causes confusion. The term "Post Feed Redirect" seems to describe an option, in Blogger, to redirect the post feed to a different URL.

The Post Feed Redirect feature is used by some confused blog owners, improperly. There are several specific cases, all too common.

• Change the URL of the feed. Redirecting the blog feed, to simply change the URL, causes the feed to redirect to non existent content - or a dead feed.
• Publishing the blog to a non BlogSpot URL. Custom domain publishing provides automatic redirection of the blog URL - and by extension, the blog feed URL. Adding a feed redirect causes an infinite loop.
• Randomly expose the blog to new audiences. Redirecting the blog feed to a random redirector causes the blog readers to report a hijacked Reading List - and later, to simply remove the blog, using a redirected feed, from the Reading List.

This redirection, contrary to the term "Post Feed", also affects the comments feeds and the labels feeds, relevant to the blog where the setting is used.

Besides the fact that the option in question affects all feeds in the blog, the biggest confusion is that using the option does not actually redirect the feed - it redirects the references to the feed. People use this option in the expectation that it will change the URL of the feed. This option does not change the URL of the feed - it changes the URL used by references to the feed.

To change the feed references, successfully, you must have the URL mentioned by the setting already published, in a separate effort.

• If you renamed the blog to a different BlogSpot URL, you can redirect the feed reference, from a stub blog, to the feed published under the new URL.
• If you used a different service, like FeedBurner, to create a reformatted feed replica, you can redirect the feed reference to the FeedBurner feed URL.
• In either case, the URL has to exist, from a separate effort.

If you are reading this post, look down the page, after the "Newer Post Home Older Post" links.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

There is an example of the original feed reference. The purpose of the post feed redirect feature, long ago, was to let the blog owners generate a different feed for the blog - maybe a FeedBurner republished post feed - and force that link to reference the FeedBurner republished feed.

If you use that link, and subscribe to the feed from this blog, you should get a subscription offer, using the FeedBurner feed for this blog.

The Post Feed Redirect simply lets people setup and use an alternate feed URL, without having to update the code for all links which reference the post feed - such as that link.

That's it - pure and simple.

If you have - even unintentionally - misused the post feed redirect in your blog, it's easy to correct the mistake. Just understand why you should correct the mistake.

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Clear, Or Set, The Post Feed Redirect

One of the most mysterious settings, in our blogs, is the ability to redirect references to the blog feed.

Some people use the "Post Feed Redirect" setting improperly. When this is done, the problems created can be easily solved, by clearing the setting.

1. Go to the dashboard menu Settings - Other - Site feed.
2. Look at the entry for "Post Feed Redirect URL".
3. If that option is incorrectly set, click on "Remove".
4. Click on "Save settings".
5. You're done.

If you actually need this setting, it's similarly simple to set it.

1. Go to the dashboard menu Settings - Other - Site feed.
2. Look at the entry for "Post Feed Redirect URL".
3. If that option needs to be set, click on "Add".
4. Paste or type the correct URL, into the box.
5. Click on "Save settings".
6. You're done.

The setting, for this blog, for instance, is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Nitecruzr-Blogging

Just understand what the setting does, how to enter the setting, and when you should use it.

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The Content Of Your Reading List Is Your Responsibility

Occasionally, we see an odd problem report about Reading List content, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

How did this blog get into my Reading List? I did not Follow this blog!

Most people will not, knowingly, Follow a spam blog. This is one reason why Following is so popular - each blog owner, and blog reader can easily bypass, and actively block - spam. Spammers have, however, found devious ways to convince people to Follow them.

Nobody will, intentionally, Follow a spam blog. If we unintentionally Follow a blog which is owned by somebody gullible to the spammers suggestions, it's not difficult to identify, and stop Following, any blogs owned by gullible people.

You can, using the right reporting procedure, identify the blogs which offend you. It's possible that Blogger / Google will, given the right complaints, remove such blogs.

• Any action taken upon your report of problem blogs is subject to delay - and due process of law - before any results will be seen.
• The content which offends you may not be provided in a Blogger blog. Google has no power over non Google hosted websites.
• Any blogs removed as a result of your complaints will be replaced, in the spam blog cloud, which you are seeing, thanks to the blog which you are Following.

When you see content which offends you, in your Reading List, the proper resolution will be simple.

• Find, and remove, the blogs which you are Following - and which provide the problem content presence in your Reading List.
• Report the blogs which you are Following - not the blogs / websites which provide the unwanted content.

You may, at your discretion, add a third step.

• Report the blogs or websites which provide the unwanted content.

But do the third step, as a third step - not as the only step. Report the problem blogs - as Step #2 - here, or in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. Be part of The Solution - not The Problem.

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Redirecting The Traffic From Your Blogger Blog

Some Blogger blog owners are confused about their ability to redirect traffic to, or from, their blogs. Sometimes this leads to problems, as in the need to report a problem with spam classification, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken

Why was my blog just deleted, for "Malicious JavaScript"?

Other people will want to know why, after renaming their blog, all the search engine references now point to a dead URL. Still others may want to rename specific posts, and yet have the post URLs match the new titles.

Blog URLs, and Post URLs, are complex details, for Blogger blogs. By default, both are managed for you. Not everybody understands how to manage blog and post URLs, when necessary.

Not every blog owner understands that ones readers are not possessions, to be manipulated at will. Many spammers would love to use various Blogger blogs as gateways, redirecting their readers either to other Blogger blogs, or to non Google controlled websites. In order to discourage spamming activity, neither type of redirect is permitted, by the Blogger spam classifier.

Even if automated redirection was permitted, many redirection techniques may not work for everybody. Modern browsers, designed to prevent abusive activity like hacking and spamming, may have filters which explicitly block DNS settings, and scripts, designed to redirect traffic from one website to another. If you design your URL migration strategy to require automated redirection - and even if Blogger / Google does not delete the blog for abusive technique - you may still not see a consistent transfer of existing traffic, to your new URL.

You can redirect a Blogger blog, to a non BlogSpot URL, using properly setup custom domain publishing - "CNAME" referral. That is the only valid way to redirect a BlogSpot URL, to a non BlogSpot URL. Any other method will eventually leave you posting, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken

Why was my blog just deleted, by Blogger?

If you rename your blog - and publish to a new BlogSpot URL, your only recourse is to publish a "stub" (empty) blog to the old URL, and visually redirect your readers.

This blog is now published as "blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com". Please update your bookmarks.

You can, if you wish, redirect the blog feed, after renaming the blog - but this should be done only when necessary.

There are several specific cases where the blog feed should not be redirected.

Blogger recently provided us the option to redirect traffic from one blog post to another - but the syntax used by the custom redirects wizard explicitly prevents redirection outside the base blog URL. That said, we have seen some imaginative redirections, between different URLs in the same blog.

Use of the custom redirect feature can generate interesting problems, not all of which can be prevented, easily. You can redirect some URLs - but you need to understand what you can, and cannot do - and why you cannot do everything that you would like.

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Custom Domain Publishing Does Not Use The Post Feed Redirect Setting

One of the benefits of custom domain publishing, for a properly setup domain, is that the BlogSpot URL is automatically redirected to the domain. Not all blog owners realise that this redirect includes the blog feed - once the Transition period ends, and the blog is republished to the domain.

Some blog owners think that the Post Feed Redirect setting needs to be used when re publishing their blog to a custom domain. This is not true, however. Use of the custom domain redirect, plus the post feed redirect, can only result in one of two problems.

• A feed redirect loop.
• A feed URL that points to invalid content.

In neither case will any newsfeed client, such as a Dynamic Template, Google Reader, Reading List, or any third party feed program, find a feed that can be used.

The Post Feed Redirect setting is used to redirect feed references, to a separately existing feed file. It's not used where it is not needed - and with a properly setup custom domain published blog, it's not needed.

Let's look at an HTTP trace, showing the blog feed for a custom domain published blog, that uses a post feed redirect - in this case, we have the feed for "mybloggerblog.blogspot.com" redirected to "mybloggerblog.com".

Start with the BlogSpot based feed URL, for "mybloggerblog.blogspot.com".

Sending request:

GET /feeds/posts/default HTTP/1.1

Host: mybloggerblog.blogspot.com

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:14.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/14.0.1
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close

• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.224.106
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...

Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·301·Moved·Permanently(CR)(LF)

Content-Type:·text/html;·charset=UTF-8(CR)(LF)

Location:·http://www.mybloggerblog.com/feeds/posts/default(CR)(LF)

With a properly setup custom domain, and no PFR setting used, the next display would be the XML file, for the feed. Here, the PFR was set to "http://mybloggerblog.com/".

Sending request:

GET /feeds/posts/default HTTP/1.1

Host: www.mybloggerblog.com

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:14.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/14.0.1
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close

• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.127.121
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...

Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·302·Moved·Temporarily(CR)(LF)

Location:·http://mybloggerblog.com/(CR)(LF)

Now, we are looking at a typical custom domain root to "www" alias redirect.

Sending request:

GET / HTTP/1.1

Host: mybloggerblog.com

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:14.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/14.0.1
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close

• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 216.239.32.21
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...

Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·301·Moved·Permanently(CR)(LF)

Location:·http://www.mybloggerblog.com/(CR)(LF)

And now, we are looking at the formatted blog contents - not the newsfeed.

Sending request:

GET / HTTP/1.1

Host: www.mybloggerblog.com

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:14.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/14.0.1
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close

• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.127.121
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...

Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·200·OK(CR)(LF)

Unfortunately, the blog itself is not a proper XML file (required for a feed), it's HTML / XML.

<!DOCTYPE·html·PUBLIC·"-//W3C//DTD·XHTML·1.0·Strict//EN"·"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">(LF)

<html·dir='ltr'·xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'·xmlns:b='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/b'·xmlns:data='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data'·xmlns:expr='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/expr'>(LF)

<head>(LF)

...

<link·href='http://www.mybloggerblog.com/'·rel='canonical'/>(LF)
<link·rel="alternate"·type="application/atom+xml"·title="In·the·Studio·-·Atom"·href="http://www.mybloggerblog.com/feeds/posts/default"·/>(LF)
<link·rel="alternate"·type="application/rss+xml"·title="In·the·Studio·-·RSS"·href="http://www.mybloggerblog.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss"·/>(LF)
<link·rel="service.post"·type="application/atom+xml"·title="In·the·Studio·-·Atom"·href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2302596229887627781/posts/default"·/>(LF)
<link·rel="EditURI"·type="application/rsd+xml"·title="RSD"·href="http://www.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=2302596229887627781"·/>(LF)
<link·rel="me"·href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12619425977406185402"·/>(LF)
<link·rel="openid.server"·href="http://www.blogger.com/openid-server.g"·/>(LF)
<link·rel="openid.delegate"·href="http://www.mybloggerblog.com/"·/>(LF)

And if the feed client is, for instance, a dynamic template, the would be reader is looking at the old spinning gears. Until he gets bored, closes the browser, and emails you

Your blog is down - again.

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