Cards validator cannot fetch the url. i have been advised to change host and i did. still getting the same error

Sarasvati10 · 2013-11-19T00:05:13.000Z

THE HELP DESK KINDLY REPLIED TO ONE OF MY SUPPORT REQUESTS ABOUT THE VALIDATOR NOT FETCHING THE URL, AND TOLD ME TO CHANGE HOST (SIC!).
I CHANGED HOST BUT THE VALIDATOR CANNOT FETCH ANY OF MY URLS:

http://niclarossini.com
http://sarasvati.co.uk

YOU’LL SEE THE CODE IN THE HEADER. THE ROBOTS.TXT FILE ISN’T THE PROBLEM (BECAUSE IT DOESN’T EXIST).
WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO DIFFICULT? DO I HAVE TO CHANGE HOST AGAIN? (ROFL).

THANKS IN ADVANCE.

rchoi · 2013-11-20T02:37:42.000Z

Hi there,

For http://sarasvati.co.uk/robots.txt, it returns a 404. That might be the issue there.

For http://niclarossini.com, can you try changing from TwitterBot to Twitterbot?

Sarasvati10 · 2013-11-20T08:55:58.000Z

thanks (it’s a micracle! I’ve catched someone’s attention). There is a problem with the system: yesterday I suceeded in submitting both urls for review. I can’t see them in my account now, and if I try to resubmit it says it couldn’t fetch because of an internal error. Maybe I just dreamt about it… The only thing I am sure about is that the validator has serious issues.

Sarasvati10 · 2013-11-20T09:15:54.000Z

well, I managed to resubmit niclarossini.com. With some luck, if I login into my account tomorrow I’ll find it still pending. If Murphy’s law applies I’ll have to fetch again and submit again for the rest of my days…

Sarasvati10 · 2013-11-20T10:21:00.000Z

okay, looks like niclarossini.com was approved, so let me share my experience with those who are banging their heads:

1- if the validator can’t fetch the url permanently, you didn’t give the root url, and the robots.txt file is in good order, you may have a problem of hosting IP being blocked by Twitter. If you’re on a shared server, this may be a common issue. Get a dedicated IP or move somewhere else.

2- the correct tags to use are those listed on the card summary when you visit to apply. So it’s twitter:image:src and NOT twitter:image

robots.txt
UserAgent: Twitterbot Disallow: User-agent: *

Disallow: /directory1/
Disallow: /direcotry2/
Disallow: /directory3/

tags for the summary card:

Should you see another format, avoid using it because the card doesn’t validate.

IMPORTANT: never give the root to the validator! If you give the root, it won’t be able to fetch your url. If you put the tags in your index page, fetch http://yourwebsite.com/index.php or .html or whatever

Do NOT add a trailing slash at the end of your domain in the tag or the validation fails.
When submitting your card, give the same description you use in the metatags.

I hope this helps, and it’s valid as of November 20 2013.

rchoi · 2013-12-13T05:27:41.000Z

@Sarasvati10,

Thanks for this. Very thoughtful and helpful!

Sarasvati10 · 2013-12-13T09:44:41.000Z

Sure, any time. I’m just a little sad because there’s no Nobel prize for cards or for twitter, so I’m not going to have a nomination next year either. Any hints on site/user streams for me? Any suggestions on why my friends get suspended without any apparent reason and this seems to be (but your award winning help desk sends an auto reply and then closes the ticket so I don’t know. Just a suspect) to be related with my poor applications, which btw are the only ones that follow all policies? Do ut des. It’s a great rule for behavior

PS: forgot to add that if twitter cards don’t work with the guidelines above, you want to allow all robots in the robots.txt file. Selective exclusion didn’t work for me.