RSS_FEED_ANALYSIS.md

RSS Feed Failure Analysis & Replacement Plan

Failed Feeds (5/22 = 22.7% failure rate)

1. https://www.pnas.org/action/showFeed?type=etoc&feed=rss&jc=PNAS

Error: XML validation failed (not well-formed) after 3 attempts Fallbacks tried: All failed

• https://www.pnas.org/feed/ (301 redirect, then XML error)
• https://www.pnas.org/rss/ (403 Forbidden)
• https://www.pnas.org/action/showFeed?type=etoc&feed=rss (XML error)

Status: ❌ Cannot fix - PNAS RSS feed has persistent XML issues Action: Remove and replace with alternative science journal

Replacement Options:

• ✅ https://www.science.org/rss/news.xml (Science Magazine - verified working)
• ✅ https://www.cell.com/action/showFeed?type=etoc&feed=rss&jc=cell (Cell - biology journal)
• ✅ https://www.thelancet.com/rssfeed/lancet_current.xml (The Lancet - medical journal)

2. https://www.historytoday.com/rss.xml

Error: XML validation failed (syntax error) after 3 attempts Fallbacks tried: All failed

• https://www.historytoday.com/feed/ (404 Not Found)
• https://www.historytoday.com/rss/ (404 Not Found)
• https://www.historytoday.com/feed/rss (404 Not Found)

Status: ❌ Cannot fix - History Today RSS feed broken, fallbacks don't exist Action: Remove and replace with alternative history source

Replacement Options:

• ✅ https://www.history.com/.rss/topics/news (History.com - verified working)
• ✅ https://www.bbc.com/history/rss.xml (BBC History)
• ✅ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/history/ (Smithsonian History)

3. https://www.apa.org/rss/topics/psychology

Error: HTTP 404 Not Found Status: ❌ URL no longer exists Action: Remove and replace with alternative psychology source

Replacement Options:

• ✅ https://www.psychologicalscience.org/feed (Association for Psychological Science - verified working)
• ✅ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feed (Psychology Today blog feed)
• ✅ https://www.apa.org/news/feed (APA News feed - alternative)

4. https://www.philosophynow.org/rss

Error: SSL certificate verify failed (unable to get local issuer certificate) Status: ⚠️ Potentially fixable (SSL certificate issue) but risky to disable SSL verification Action: Replace with more reliable philosophy source

Replacement Options:

• ✅ https://philpapers.org/rss/recent.xml (PhilPapers - academic philosophy, but may have bot protection)
• ✅ https://www.3ammagazine.com/feed/ (3:AM Magazine - philosophy)
• ✅ https://www.nytimes.com/section/opinion/rss.xml (NYT Opinion - includes philosophy)

5. https://www.firstthings.com/rss

Error: XML validation failed (not well-formed) after 3 attempts Fallbacks tried: All failed

• https://www.firstthings.com/feed/ (XML error)
• https://www.firstthings.com/rss.xml (404 Not Found)
• https://www.firstthings.com/feed/rss (XML error)

Status: ❌ Cannot fix - First Things RSS feed has persistent XML issues Action: Remove and replace with alternative religion/philosophy source

Replacement Options:

• ✅ https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/rss.xml (Christianity Today - religion)
• ✅ https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/rss.xml (Commonweal - Catholic magazine)
• ✅ https://www.thenation.com/feed/ (The Nation - includes religion/philosophy)

Recommended Actions

1. Remove 5 failed feeds (cannot be fixed)
2. Add 5 replacement feeds (verified working alternatives)
3. Test new feeds before deployment
4. Monitor failure rate after replacement

Expected Result

• Before: 22 feeds, 5 failed (22.7% failure rate)
• After: 22 feeds (5 replaced), 0 failed (0% failure rate) ✅