Blog link displays duplicates and does not find multiple feeds

My website has multiple RSS feeds. Instead of displaying the posts from the feeds, bloglink shows duplicate posts. I went through a long conversation thread with six-apart support only to be redirected to post this here :(

I can understand if this application is not supported, but not letting me know thats the case is what bothers me.

Anyway, here is the complete thread:
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Six Apart (Kymberlie) said: 02/11/2009 10:22 PM
Hi Lakshmi,

Thanks for the note. If you're still having problems with BlogLink, please enter your question here and someone should be able to assist you with this.

Thanks,
Kymberlie

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lakshmi Vyas
Hello,

Yes, the problem still exists.

I removed the links from my profile. Saved the profile. Readded the
links. Checked the app - it was still having double posts.

Then, I removed the blog link application from my profile and re-added
the application and it still exists.
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Six Apart (Laura) said: 02/03/2009 09:38 PM
Hi Lakshmi,

Thanks for providing those links. If you remove the feeds from your LinkedIn account and then add them back, do you still see this issue?

Thanks,
Laura
TypePad Technical Services
Six Apart Ltd.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lakshmi Vyas
Hi Brianna,

Thanks for the quick response.

Here are the links to the two feeds:
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ringcecode
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ringceblog

They have completely different articles and are generated from two
completely different xml files as well.

But they are both, however published through the home page (www.ringce.com
). I don't have buttons for these feeds on the home page, you have to
go to the browser address bar to load the feeds.

Here is my linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lakshmivyas

Thanks Again,
Lakshmi.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Six Apart (Brianna) said: 01/31/2009 08:15 PM
Hi Lakshmi,

Thanks for contacting us!

What are the two feeds you're using and connected to Blog Link? If the two feeds that you're using belong to the same blog, it could be publishing the same content twice because both feeds are generating the same content.

Thanks!
Brianna
TypePad Technical Services
Six Apart, Ltd.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lakshmi Vyas
Hello,

This is a bug report for your otherwise most excellent Blog Link linkedin application.

I have two feeds published on my website(www.ringce.com). Blog link finds the two feeds but it downloads content from the first feed twice.

Thanks
Lakshmi.

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David Recordon, Official Rep, replied on February 16, 2009 04:58
Great, go ahead and add http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ringceblog to your LinkedIn Profile since your code feed is listed first for both of your current website links. I don't believe that you should see duplication when you do this.

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David Recordon, Official Rep, replied on February 15, 2009 21:07
Hi Lakshmi,
As Zalary said, BlogLink is designed to automatically find a feed for the websites that you list in your LinkedIn Profile. This means that there isn't any configuration that BlogLink users need to do to get up and running.

Of course the downside to this automatic configuration is that advanced uses, like what you're doing, aren't really supported. In order to make this work today, you'd need to list your website and then the second feed URL within your LinkedIn Profile. I understand that this is suboptimal, but BlogLink was really designed around the case of each website having one feed.

(I agree though that BlogLink should not be showing duplicate entries.)

Sorry,
--David

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zalary, Official Rep, replied on February 12, 2009 14:54

Hi Lakshmi,

We're sorry to hear you are frustrated. When I checked out your sites, I believe was able to determine the reason for the issue you are experiencing.

If you have multiple feeds linked within the head section of your website, the first feed will be used by Blog Link.

In this case, both your site at http://www.ringce.com/ and your blog at http://site.ringce.com/blog/blog.html have the feeds in the same order - with http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ringcecode as the first feed listed.

If you want Blog Link to pick up your blog feed at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ringceblog you will need to change the order of the listing in your head section for JUST ONE of the sites.

You can find some additional information on Blog Link at:
http://kb.typepad.com/id/1333

but we hope this information helps to resolve the issue.

Thanks,
Zalary :)

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Lakshmi Vyas replied on February 12, 2009 17:12

Zalary,

Appreciate the helpful response.

Unfortunately, changing the order if the feeds would make the website unpredictable.

I wish blog link were designed such that it parsed only feed urls (or had an option to do so). This can be done by requiring a feed keyword in the label or by parsing only urls that return direct feeds. This would eliminate the above problem and would make blog link a ton more useful.

Here are all the issues it would alleviate:

1. The above mentioned duplicates issue
2. Most of my contacts work for large organizations and have the organizations website listed. I have no interest in the organization's news feed and I don't think my contacts are publicizing the news feed. This would allow blog link to be more focussed and more deliberate. I understand that this would make it less of a "just works" application. But "just works" is meaningful only when it works well.
3. This would also make the widget perform better since it doesn't have to parse the feeds of every website on every one of my contact's profiles.

I love blog link and what it does. I think it definitely is one of the most desirable and useful apps for linked-in. Unfortunately, the above issue makes it unusable most of the time. Linked In is my professional profile and having duplicate entries on my profile makes me look unprofessional.

Thanks again for your prompt response,
Lakshmi.

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miz_ginevra, Official Rep, replied on February 12, 2009 19:28

I'm really happy that you like the application. Would you be able to let us know more about what you mean by "Unfortunately, changing the order if the feeds would make the website unpredictable." I'm just a layperson, so be gentle. :)

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Lakshmi Vyas replied on February 12, 2009 20:22

What I meant to type was:

"Unfortunately, changing the order of the feeds would make the website unpredictable"

Visitors to me website can subscribe to my feeds by clicking on the RSS button in their browsers address bar. Changing the order of the feeds between one page and another makes this experience unpredictable. I shouldn't have to do this for blog-link to:

a. Filter duplicate entries
b. Find other feeds

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David Recordon, Official Rep, replied on February 15, 2009 21:07

Hi Lakshmi,
As Zalary said, BlogLink is designed to automatically find a feed for the websites that you list in your LinkedIn Profile. This means that there isn't any configuration that BlogLink users need to do to get up and running.

Of course the downside to this automatic configuration is that advanced uses, like what you're doing, aren't really supported. In order to make this work today, you'd need to list your website and then the second feed URL within your LinkedIn Profile. I understand that this is suboptimal, but BlogLink was really designed around the case of each website having one feed.

(I agree though that BlogLink should not be showing duplicate entries.)

Sorry,
--David

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Lakshmi Vyas replied on February 15, 2009 21:16

David,

Thanks for your response.

I don't have a problem listing the second feed's url on my profile as long as there are no duplicates.

Thanks
Lakshmi.

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David Recordon, Official Rep, replied on February 16, 2009 04:58

Great, go ahead and add http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ringceblog to your LinkedIn Profile since your code feed is listed first for both of your current website links. I don't believe that you should see duplication when you do this.

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Lakshmi Vyas replied on February 16, 2009 05:06

Excellent. Duplicates are removed. Thanks a bundle.

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David Recordon, Official Rep, replied on February 18, 2009 03:21

Glad this is now working for you!

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