My subscribers are reporting slow feeds or feed loading errors — what should I do?

Slow or failing feed requests are almost always a server capacity issue, not a Benecaster configuration problem. The most common causes:

1. No object cache at a large subscriber count. At 500+ subscribers, feed poll volume can strain a shared or entry-level VPS database. Adding Redis or Memcached is usually the fix. See Server Requirements.

2. Stale cache causing unexpected content. If subscribers are seeing episodes they shouldn’t (or not seeing new ones), try a manual cache clear: Benecaster → Settings → Advanced → Clear Feed Cache. If the issue resolves immediately after clearing, the feed cache wasn’t being invalidated correctly — contact support with the details.

3. PHP memory limit too low. Feed compilation for large episode archives requires adequate PHP memory. Minimum 128MB; 256MB recommended for shows with 100+ episodes.

4. A plugin conflict on the feed request path. Some caching plugins (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache) aggressively cache all URLs including authenticated feed URLs. Your feed URL must be excluded from full-page caching. Benecaster sets Cache-Control: no-store on feed responses, but some plugins ignore this. Add your feed URL pattern to the caching plugin’s exclusion list.

If feed requests are timing out entirely, enable WordPress debug logging (WP_DEBUG_LOG = true) and check wp-content/debug.log during a failed feed poll for PHP errors or slow query warnings.