[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #10511: Enclosure Custom Fields are automatically deleted

[WordPress Trac]

#10511: Enclosure Custom Fields are automatically deleted
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 Reporter:  animepulse    |       Owner:            
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new       
 Priority:  high          |   Milestone:  Unassigned
Component:  Feeds         |     Version:  2.8       
 Severity:  major         |    Keywords:  enclosures
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Changes (by amandato):

 * cc: angelo@… (added)
  * severity:  normal => major


Comment:

 I hope this feature of deleting enclosures when not linked in the post
 content gets removed as soon as possible. Even though we (Blubrry
 PowerPress) implemented the bug fix similar to the one the Podcasting
 plugin is using to hack around this problem, it still creates problems for
 users who aren't using a podcasting plugin but who have been manually
 entering their enclosures in the custom fields because they've been told
 to do it by adding them to the custom Fields. Please refer to the second
 comment from Otto42 linked here:
 http://wordpress.org/support/topic/171263?replies=3 There's also a
 published book that explains how to use the Custom Fields to add podcasts
 by naming the field 'enclosure':
 http://books.google.com/books?id=dXnJgJl8lxQC&pg=PA231&lpg=PA231&dq=wordpress+enclosure+custom+field&source=web&ots=-cbuYTQp3a&sig=a_fNOln46ON3i3K3GLunIc2yswQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

 If the feature of deleting enclosures not linked within the post content
 is never going to be removed, I would recommend adding warning to the
 Custom Fields area that says enclosure fields will be deleted unless they
 are also linked within the blog post content.

 Another related issue, adding multiple enclosures to 1 blog post is
 problematic and the practice in WordPress should be stopped. There are
 folks that believe that by putting 2+ enclosures in a blog post/feed, that
 iTunes (and all other podcatchers) will download them all and merge them
 together. This is a myth, only one of the multiple enclosures will be
 downloaded by particular clients and it is not consistent which enclosure
 will be downloaded. In some cases like iTunes, only the first enclosure
 that is supported is used, where other podcatchers like Google Reader grab
 the last enclosure. The current practice to grab all of the media links
 and make them into enclosures is a flawed one for this reason. If you need
 reputable sources why this is not a good practice, read what Dave Winer
 says about the subject 5 years ago
 (http://www.reallysimplesyndication.com/2004/12/21), read the RSS2
 specifications at www.rssboard.org, and also refer to the warning given at
 feedvalidator.org
 (http://www.feedvalidator.org/docs/warning/DuplicateEnclosure.html). The
 other inconvenience with this feature is when you add links to media in
 your posts and you don't want them to become podcast episodes. You can't
 link to media in WordPress unless you intend to podcast them, which is a
 big limitation in my opinion.

 My recommendation would be for the logic in WordPress to change to the
 following:
 {{{
 if( !enclosure for post ) {
  scan post content for a media link
    first media link found; insert as enclosure; break;
 }
 }}}

 If there's not already an enclosure for the blog post, scan the post
 content and grab the first media link found to add as an enclosure. If
 there is already an enclosure, don't add more and don't delete the
 existing one.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/10511#comment:1>
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