Beware! The RSS nightmare we should all be aware of!

[Corby in Omaha]

The Twisted Pickle Show (http://www.thetwistedpickle.com) says:

I knew it would happen and it appears I was right. My old hosting died on 10-22, which means my RSS died.

The RSS is the one read by Podcast Alley and the one Podcast Alley created for people to be iTunes compliant is the one iTunes used for me.

I have not been able to get either iTunes or Podcast Alley to change my feed from the old on to the new one even after a handful of e-mails over the last month.

A few weeks before, I switchd hosting to Libsyn and my feed to Feedburner, hoping I would have given diehard fans of my show plenty of time (3-4 episodes) to get their software switched to the new feed.

Nope. I've had my show # 44 up there for almost a week. In this time, what would normally get me about 500 downloads, has me sitting at about 120.

That's almost 4/5 of my audience is gone.

Let this be a helpful warning to all.....even if it costs you an extra $46 a year to keep an old host JUST SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR **** RSS FEED, you may want to pony up....otherwise you'll be left feeling rather lonley.....just like me.

-Bummed in Omaha-
Corby
Twisted Pickle Show (http://www.thetwistedpickle.com)

[Lifespring!]

Corby,

You're right. When you change your feed, you're going to lose some subscribers.

You can, however, cut down on the losses by doing what I did when moving my feed. Check out my old feed: http://www.caltem1.org/podcasts/rss.xml

The way I did it, the title shows up as "Lifespring! Obsolete feed. Please re-subscribe to: http://lifespringonline.com/rss.xml". The mp3 file associated with that feed is a message to update your podcatcher, as well.

In addition to doing the above, I will also keep the old feed "alive" as long as there are a significant number of downloads of that file. Sure, it costs a little extra money, but at least I know people will know where to find the show.

[SFEley]

I knew it would happen and it appears I was right. My old hosting died on 10-22, which means my RSS died.
So you couldn't move your domain name to wherever your new hosting was, and put your new feed at the same URL?

[Corby in Omaha]

No, in order to obtain the domain name for another year, I wanted just the domain name...not hosting. That way I could do a redirect and send any traffic to the old domain to the new feed.

Problem is, the day the account expired, it was bought by somebody else...I believe my old hosting company bought the name....so I can't purcahse it againf or a year. The old host, however, is more than willing to sign me up for another year at $46 (even though I could purchase a new domain for $3).

So unless I pay $46 for hosting for another year, hosting I won't use, the old domain name is theirs now...sucks...

[SFEley]

No, in order to obtain the domain name for another year, I wanted just the domain name...not hosting. That way I could do a redirect and send any traffic to the old domain to the new feed.
I'm sorry to hear that.

For future reference, you can transfer a domain name from its original registrant to any other company. There's a bit of bureaucracy involved, but they have to let you do it. The next time you change Web hosts, you can move the domain name to the new host with you. And don't ever let the domain expire!


So unless I pay $46 for hosting for another year, hosting I won't use, the old domain name is theirs now...sucks...
It does suck, but on the other hand... Didn't you just say you had 500 listeners you were in danger of losing? Are they worth ten cents apiece?

I would strongly consider renewing for at least a month or two to get the domain back, if you can. If you can't, renew for the year. Then you can transfer it to the new host, and set up your feed there at the same URL, and forget all about the old host.

[jeffoest]

... I've had my show # 44 up there for almost a week. In this time, what would normally get me about 500 downloads, has me sitting at about 120.

That's almost 4/5 of my audience is gone....

It does suck that the technology sometimes doesn't work as seamlessly as we would like. There should be better ways for changing feeds and hosts. Hopefully smart people will continue to look at this stuff and make it easier for all ofus.

I do have to say, though - and I don't know if this will make you feel better or worse. But if you lost 4/5 of your audience because of a feed change, I'll bet most of that 'audience' was downloading your show but not listening. Or maybe they listened every now and then but weren't really 'committed to the show. I guess what I'm saying is that I really don't think you lost much except a mental number of your "success". The people that liked your show before are liking it now. And now with your new feed, you are doing the things you need to do for your podcast's future.

Heck - I download a lot of shows that I don't get to. If their feed changed, I would either notice and change it if I really didn't want to miss the show, not notice because I was just getting lazy and didn't listen anymore anyways, or notice but make a decision to not 'renew' because I didn't listen to it much anymore.

Like I said - good news - I personally don't think you really lost much that is tangible. bad news - perhaps your 'real' numbers aren't what you thought they were. OK, so what? - that's applies to ALL of us.

[SFEley]

I do have to say, though - and I don't know if this will make you feel better or worse. But if you lost 4/5 of your audience because of a feed change, I'll bet most of that 'audience' was downloading your show but not listening. Or maybe they listened every now and then but weren't really 'committed to the show.
That depends. If the change wasn't communicated (because it took Corby by surprise), then most feed subscribers might not know that it stopped working, and think Corby just went on hiatus. They might want to listen, but have no idea where to find it now, and possibly no idea that there's even a new location to look for.

Like I said - good news - I personally don't think you really lost much that is tangible. bad news - perhaps your 'real' numbers aren't what you thought they were. OK, so what? - that's applies to ALL of us.
I listen to every podcast I'm subscribed to. They all go into one playlist, and I listen to them in order. I never skip one and I rarely fast-forward. If a show on a more-or-less regular schedule misses an episode, I tend to notice, but I don't think "Aha! I must go to their Web site and investigate what happened!" Usually I think "Oh, I guess Paul got sick or busy or something. I hope he's back next week."

Point being, I'm definitely a "real listener," but a broken feed could remain broken for weeks before I found out about it. To assume that I wasn't listening would be the wrong conclusion.

[jeffoest]

That depends. If the change wasn't communicated (because it took Corby by surprise), then most feed subscribers might not know that it stopped working, and think Corby just went on hiatus. They might want to listen, but have no idea where to find it now, and possibly no idea that there's even a new location to look for.

The point being, listeners that love your show will be back. Give them time. Make sure the feed change is communicated on your webpage. You may lose folks on the proverbial 'fence'. Oh well.

I listen to every podcast I'm subscribed to. They all go into one playlist, and I listen to them in order. I never skip one and I rarely fast-forward. If a show on a more-or-less regular schedule misses an episode, I tend to notice, but I don't think "Aha! I must go to their Web site and investigate what happened!" Usually I think "Oh, I guess Paul got sick or busy or something. I hope he's back next week."

LOL. OK! It sounds like you are pretty disciplined about your subscriptions. But not everyone is. That's all I'm saying! :-)

[Hittman]

You can save yourself a lot of trouble by buying your domain from GoDaddy. You get plenty of warning well before it expires, so you’re not going to loose it accidentally. Keeping your name there makes it impossible for an ISP to hijack it.

I’ve heard lots of complaints about their web hosting, but virtually none about their domain name services. I’ve got a half dozen domains with them, and haven’t lost one yet.

I listen to 80-90% of what I subscribe to. Sometimes I’ll find I have a load of DSCs orFTLs, and I’ll listen to a couple of them, then clean them out, but for the most part, I listen to most of what I download. The exception is shows that I haven’t heard before, downloaded a few, and discovered I didn’t like it.