Troubleshooting feed issues

Troubleshooting feed issues

When adding a feed that contains images to The Brief, our system attempts to access and display your images. However, certain restrictions or security configurations on your image host might block these requests. This issue typically happens because The Brief proxies and caches your images to ensure faster delivery and enhanced performance for your target audience. If images are not displaying, your hosting system or Content Delivery Network (CDN) may block The Brief’s requests.

Here's how you can resolve the issue.

Identify the cause of the issue

1. Verify that your image hosting or CDN is configured to allow external requests.
2. Check if your hosting system blocks requests based on User Agent strings or IP restrictions.
3. Look for error messages or blocked requests in your server logs.

If you identify that The Brief’s requests are being blocked, proceed with the configurations listed below.

Whitelisting The Brief on Cloudflare

If your hosting is managed through Cloudflare, follow these steps to whitelist The Brief.

1. Log into your Cloudflare account and select the domain where your feed images are hosted.
2. Go to Rules > Configuration Rules and create a new rule.
3. Set up the rule:
   • Rule name: Choose a name (e.g., The Brief Whitelist).
   • User Agent: Select User Agent, operator as contains, and the value as The Brief. All our requests include a User Agent string ending in The Brief.
4. Adjust the rule settings:
   • Turn off Browser Integrity Check.
   • Disable Hotlink Protection.
   • Set Security Level to Essentially Off.
5. Click Deploy to save the changes.

This rule will whitelist requests from The Brief and allow your images to load correctly.

Whitelisting The Brief on Custom Systems

For custom-built systems or another security system that blocks requests, use the following guidelines:

1. Ensure your network or image hosting system recognizes requests with a User Agent string containing The Brief.
2. Remove any IP-based restrictions or security measures that might unintentionally block The Brief’s requests.

3. If applicable, add an exception or rule to your firewall, CDN, or server configuration to allow requests where the User Agent header contains The Brief.

    

If the issue persists despite following the steps above, please contact our support team for further assistance. Provide as many details as possible about the issue (e.g., your share link, any error messages, etc.), and we'll do our best to help troubleshoot the problem.

Tip: Keeping your security systems updated and using logs to monitor requests can help identify why specific requests are being blocked.