# Why do the RSS-feeds contain \<atom:link\> entries?

**URL:** <https://community.podlove.org/t/why-do-the-rss-feeds-contain-atom-link-entries/433>\
**Category:** Podlove Publisher\
**Created:** [October 29, 2015, 8:02am UTC](https://community.podlove.org/t/why-do-the-rss-feeds-contain-atom-link-entries/433 "2015-10-29T08:02:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GeorgLohrer](https://community.podlove.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@GeorgLohrer](https://community.podlove.org/u/GeorgLohrer)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 8:02am UTC](https://community.podlove.org/t/why-do-the-rss-feeds-contain-atom-link-entries/433/1 "2015-10-29T08:02:35Z")

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I have created a RSS-driven campaign in Mailchimp. This campaign sends information to the subscribers whenever I release a new episode. Mailchimp hereby extracts the \<title\>, \<description\> and the \<link\> out of the new \<item\>.  
\<description\> and \<link\> are fine, however mailchimp stumbles over the \<atom:link\> entries.

I’m already in discussion with mailchimp’s support asking them why they’re referring to the \<atom:link\> at all. However in parallel could you please tell me, why are these \<atom:link\> entries available in the RSS-feed?

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**Author:** ![timpritlove](https://community.podlove.org/user_avatar/community.podlove.org/timpritlove/32/1930_2.png) [@timpritlove](https://community.podlove.org/u/timpritlove)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://community.podlove.org/t/why-do-the-rss-feeds-contain-atom-link-entries/433/2 "2015-10-29T10:37:24Z")

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Well, the \<atom:link\> elements are in there because we need them and this shouldn’t be a problem to any XML parser as these are perfectly fine elements referring to important information (meta data). It’s also not uncommon in podcast feeds so I don’t really see why it is a problem for Mailchimp.

What kind of “stumbling” does Mailchimp do?

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**Author:** ![GeorgLohrer](https://community.podlove.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@GeorgLohrer](https://community.podlove.org/u/GeorgLohrer)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 11:04am UTC](https://community.podlove.org/t/why-do-the-rss-feeds-contain-atom-link-entries/433/3 "2015-10-29T11:04:01Z")

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Hi Tim and thank you for coming back on my question.  
I have meanwhile studied the Atom-link recommendation within the RSS-Standard. I came to the same conclusion as you. Dropping a standard’s recommendation away for successful run of 3rd-party software is no feasible approach.  
I have sent a mail to mailchimp, why the atom:link conflicts with their macro-language when extracting the RSS-feed contents. No reply yet due to the timezone deviation.

Ah, the “stumbling”. Mailchimp simply wrote to me:

> It looks like there are atom:link tags in the feed and once those were removed, the tag was able to work properly, allowing that _|RSSITEM:URL|_ to bring in the correct information.

I assume they are following a fool’s approach. If your washing machine is no longer functional because the hose has been exploded, closing the water valve does not really solve the problem. I still want to wash my clothes.

I’ll keep you informed.