<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Liftoff News</title>
<link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/ </link>
<description>Liftoff to Space Exploration.</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 04:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<lastBuildDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 09:41:01 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss </docs>
<generator>Weblog Editor 2.0</generator>
<managingEditor>editor@example.com</managingEditor>
<webMaster>webmaster@example.com</webMaster>
<item>
<title>Star City</title>
<link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-starcity.asp </link>
<description>How do Americans get ready to work with Russians aboard the International Space Station? They take a crash course in culture, language and protocol at Russia's Star City </description>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2003 09:39:21 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/06/03.html#item573 </guid>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
Listing 1
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<item>DDI NEWS</item>
<link>http://www.ddinews.com </link>
<description>The latest news from Doordashan news - India's largest broadcaster</description>
<copyright>Copyright: (C) Doordarshan News</copyright>
<item>
<title>Climate talks make progress, pressure on US </title>
<description>Environment ministers made progress on Tuesday towards a scaled-down climate deal in Copenhagen next month, with Washington facing pressure to promise deep cuts by 2020 in greenhouse gas emissions. </description>
<link>http://www.ddinews.gov.in/Homepage/Homepage+-+Headlines/Climate+talks+make+progress.htm</link>
<pubDate>11/18/2009 1:53:18 PM</pubDate>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
Listing 2
Listing 1 shows the correct format of an RSS 2.0 feed. Listing 2 is incorrect since tag <item> is there after tag <channel> which is not the right place for <item> tag. Argotic Syndication Framework throws an exception for the Listing 2 and doesn't parse it further.This is one of the problems which I have observed along with the following:
1. Tag <language> missing or most of the time it has value "en-us" no matter what is the language used in the feed.These are a few problems which I have seen with the web feeds, although I am talking about only RSS 2.0 here, similar problems can be imagined with ATOM/BLOGML and other syndication formats.
2. Tag <pubDate> is missing or having some wrong value.
3. Mismatch between the actual format of the feed and the format declared in <rss version="??"> tag.
4. Description is missing.
5. Feed Title is missing.
6. Item Title is missing ...most stupid and irritating.
7. Incomplete/Relative url in <link> tag
