This page is designed to answer the most popular general queries we receive about the KenyaUnlimited aggregator. It is not intended as a general resource on RSS and Syndication. For this we suggest a quick Google search that will reveal many online tutorials.

The KenyaUnlimited aggregator is a dedicated programme which allows you to read recently updated KBW blogs through their RSS files.

How the aggregator works:

1. Approximately each hour at the top of the hour the aggregator checks all the blogs which are subscribed to the aggregator through their RSS feeds to find out if they have updated since the previous hour.
2. If the blog has not been updated then the process ends there.
3. If the blog has been updated then the aggregator will take information from that blogs RSS feed and use it to display any new posts on the aggregator.

What the Admin Team can do:

• Add RSS feeds to the aggregator.
• Remove RSS feeds from the aggregator.
• Set how often the whole aggregator is updated.

What the Admin team can not do:

• Set the aggregator to ignore certain feeds in the update process - a feed is either subscribed or unsubscribed. If you can see your blog/feed name in the list of links in the sidebar then your blog is subscribed and therefore any new posts you write will be displayed.
• Change the wording in any post displayed on the aggregator. As far as we are aware it is technically impossible to intercept and edit the information in your RSS feed. Even if this is possible, we certainly do not know how to do it!

Most common questions:

1. Why aren’t my posts showing on the aggregator?
• Your blog may not be subscribed to the aggregator. Please check the list of links in the sidebar of the aggregator for your blog/feed name. If you can not see your blog/feed name and you are a member of KBW please send us an email informing us and be sure to include your blog url.
• Your feed may be set to private. Some blogging software gives you the option of restricting who can read your feed. If you feed is labelled as private or password protected then our aggregator will not be able to display it. You can unprotect your feed through your blog admin interface.
• Admin may have taken the rare step of removing you from the aggregator for material that is in violation of our criteria. Please note that in this case you will already have been informed of such action prior to it being carried out and have already been given a probationary period which you must have been in violation of. Also note that removal in this manner does not automatically mean your membership has been terminated unless of course we have informed you of this.
• You are no longer a member of KBW however you would have been informed of the termination of your membership prior to such action being carried out.
2. Some of my posts show and some of my posts do not show up. Is the admin team selecting which of my posts to display on the aggregator and which ones not to?

A very simple and direct answer, no we do not choose which posts to display and which posts not to display. If your blog is subscribed to the aggregator then all your post should be displayed. Seriously, there is no cabal, no conspiracy against you, no conspiracy against your blog. The aggregator is in constant motion 24 hours a day every day, we do not have the inclination, leave alone the resources and the time to choose which posts are displayed or not.

3. So why don’t all my posts show up on the aggregator? And how come some of my posts come out funny?

Some potential reasons:

1. RSS is a new format still in development.

As we have mentioned above the aggregator works by pulling information from your RSS feeds. RSS is still a relatively new format and there are many technical discussions over which direction it should take. A lot of RSS resources are still in development or have just become stable. There are many formats out there, for example, WordPress uses RSS2.0 whereas bloggers uses ATOM. RSS is not foolproof, it is not perfect. Each time you write a new post your RSS feed changes. Each time it changes it is not guaranteed the aggregator will be able to read it.

2. The aggregator is open source software and still in development.

You may not realise it but you are currently helping develop the software the aggregator is based on. Our aggregator is vibrant and very active and thus is a useful resource for people who study how aggregators interact with the feeds they carry. This is all relatively new software that is still in development. The aggregator software we use is still in heavy development, which means it is still being tested. We make NO GUARANTEES that it will work as it is meant to work 100% of the time.

3. Bad feeds

Your feed may contain errors or may be invalid which makes it impossible for our aggregator to read your feed. More information below.

4. If this is the case then how come it is only MY blog posts that do not get displayed properly on the aggregator? How come everyone else blog posts get displayed perfectly?

Believe us when we say that YOUR blog is not the only blog that the aggregator has chewed up. Each and every member of this admin team has had some problems with the aggregator displaying our blog posts. Again we remind you, there is no cabal, there is no conspiracy against you, we have not been paid to silence you etc. Take a deep breath and relax. This is software we are talking about. Are you saying you have never had your computer crash, or your web browser hang? Things happen that just happen.

5. OK. How can I check that my feed is valid?

Glad you asked. Please go to FEED Validator and enter the URL for your RSS feed and press submit. Please note: your RSS feed URL is different from your blog URL.

For blogs on blogger.com your feed is at:
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/atom.xml

For WordPress.com blogs your feed is at:
http://yourblogname.wordpress.com/feed/

For self hosted WordPress blogs your feed is at:
http://www.yourblog.com/feed/

If your feed has errors or is invalid please use the resources on the FEED Validator page to help you correct it.

6. Are you guys sure you are not out to get me? Are you sure you are not running a conspiracy against me?

Yes.

7. The wording on the aggregator is different from the wording on my blog? Will you look into this for me?

Sure. You need to send us an email at admin [@] kenyaunlimited.com with the following information:

1. A link to your original post
2. Cut and paste your post as it appears on the aggregator to show us the differences
3. The time you put up the original post

We will then investigate to see what is happening. Please note if you publish a post and later edit it after it has already appeared on the aggregator, your edits will not show up on the aggregator and it will continue to display the original post.

8. Some days the aggregator is full of posts from one blog. Many of these posts were written years ago. What is going on?

This usually happens when a blogger moves blogging platforms or upgrades their blogging platform. For example moving from old blogger to new google based blogger. What happens when this move/upgrade takes place is that the blog’s RSS feed is completely rebuilt. When the aggregator checks the feed it thinks that all the posts are new posts and therefore displays all of them. If you notice this please send us an email and we will look into it and try to restore the normal chronological order on the aggregator.

Other occasions are when the admin team is adding RSS feeds from new members. During this process and for a brief period, all the blog posts from new members will appear on the aggregator.

There are times when we may need to subscribe and then re-subscribe a particular blog due to problems with the blog’s RSS feed. At that point, you may see all the blog posts from that particular blog on the aggregator also for a brief period of time.

9. Are you guys sure you are not out to get me? Are you sure you are not running a conspiracy against me?


Yes.

10. The pictures I have upload to my blog display perfectly on my website but do not display at all in the aggregator. What is going on?

99% of the time this is because you are using relative links instead of absolute links. For your pictures to display on the aggregator, or on any other site that is not hosted on the same folder as your blog, you need to use absolute links. For a more detailed explanation please read Relative vs. Absolute Links by CompuGoddess.

11. Some posts on the aggregator are in a funny font or funny colour and I can not read them. What are you guys doing about this?

Some RSS Feeds take the formatting options chosen by the blog authors. This is a problem because some people have blogs with dark backgrounds others blogs with light backgrounds and therefore a whole range of colours is used for text. We are looking at standardising the display of posts.

12. How can I find an article that was on the aggregator x weeks ago?

You can’t. Unless you can remember the blog name and navigate to that blog. The aggregator displays the 50 most recent posts. We may increase this in the future depending on the load to our servers as well as whether or not it will affect the performance of the aggregator, especially for those on lower bandwidths. We are also looking at an option based system where each user can set the options that work best for them.

13. I have a question that isn’t answered here.

Please send us an email and we’ll get back to you.

14. Are you guys sure you are not out to get me? Are you sure you are not running a conspiracy against me?


Yes.

Resources used to write this with thanks:
RSS - Really Simple Syndication
RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers and Webmasters
Fagan Finder >All About RSS