Idea evidence links: linkless podcast episodes open in the RSS Amplifier reader

migrations-pg/0068_idea_feed_links.sql

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+-- 0068_idea_feed_links.sql (Postgres). See migrations/0068_idea_feed_links.sql for the reasoning.
+UPDATE idea_asks
+   SET url = 'https://rssamplifier.com/' || sub || '/read?p=' || substr(post_id, length('feed:' || sub || ':') + 1)
+ WHERE url NOT LIKE 'http%'
+   AND post_id LIKE 'feed:%';

migrations/0068_idea_feed_links.sql

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+-- 0068_idea_feed_links.sql: idea evidence links that pointed at our own origin.
+--
+-- Podcast feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory (Starter Story above all) carry
+-- no link per episode, only a guid such as a bare UUID. The reader fell back to
+-- that guid as the url, the ideas board rendered it as an href, and the browser
+-- resolved it against outreachgraph.com: a 404 on every Starter Story idea. The
+-- reader now sends those to the directory's reader page; this rewrites the rows
+-- it already filed. post_id is 'feed:<slug>:<guid>', so the guid is recoverable.
+UPDATE idea_asks
+   SET url = 'https://rssamplifier.com/' || sub || '/read?p=' || substr(post_id, length('feed:' || sub || ':') + 1)
+ WHERE url NOT LIKE 'http%'
+   AND post_id LIKE 'feed:%';

packages/ideas/src/feeds.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
 import { worthScore, rivalsFor, specificLabel } from './demand';
-import { classifySignal, cleanFeeds, feedPostId, readFeed, DEFAULT_FEEDS, PAYS } from './feeds';
+import {
+  classifySignal,
+  cleanFeeds,
+  feedPostId,
+  postUrl,
+  readFeed,
+  DEFAULT_FEEDS,
+  PAYS,
+} from './feeds';
 
 describe('classifySignal', () => {
   test('a case study with revenue is a paid signal naming the product', () => {
@@ -157,4 +165,29 @@ describe('specificLabel', () => {
     ])
       expect(specificLabel(label)).toBe(true);
   });
+
+  test('a podcast episode with no link opens in the directory reader, not on our origin', async () => {
+    const got = await readFeed(
+      { slug: 'starter-story-2', role: 'signals', name: 'Starter Story' },
+      async () => ({
+        items: [
+          {
+            guid: '3e12d0da-b5a2-11f0-98c9-e7999e01f92c',
+            url: null,
+            title: 'Bro simply rebuilt Skype and now makes $14,000 per month',
+          },
+        ],
+      }),
+      'https://rssamplifier.com',
+    );
+    expect(got.posts[0]?.url).toBe(
+      'https://rssamplifier.com/starter-story-2/read?p=3e12d0da-b5a2-11f0-98c9-e7999e01f92c',
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('postUrl keeps a real link and falls back to an http guid', () => {
+    expect(postUrl('https://b.dev/1', 'g1', 'b', 'https://x.com')).toBe('https://b.dev/1');
+    expect(postUrl(null, 'https://b.dev/2', 'b', 'https://x.com')).toBe('https://b.dev/2');
+    expect(postUrl('', 'g 1', 'b', 'https://x.com')).toBe('https://x.com/b/read?p=g%201');
+  });
 });

packages/ideas/src/feeds.ts

@@ -98,6 +98,18 @@ export function feedPostId(slug: string, guid: string): string {
   return `feed:${slug}:${guid}`.slice(0, 400);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Where a post can be opened. Podcast feeds (Starter Story) often carry no link,
+ * only a guid like a bare UUID, which an href resolves against our own origin
+ * and 404s. Those go to the directory's reader page, which plays the episode.
+ */
+export function postUrl(url: unknown, guid: string, slug: string, base = FEED_BASE): string {
+  for (const candidate of [url, guid]) {
+    if (typeof candidate === 'string' && /^https?:\/\//i.test(candidate)) return candidate;
+  }
+  return `${base}/${encodeURIComponent(slug)}/read?p=${encodeURIComponent(guid)}`;
+}
+
 /** One feed's recent posts from the RSS Amplifier directory. */
 export async function readFeed(
   feed: IdeaFeed,
@@ -109,7 +121,7 @@ export async function readFeed(
     freshness?: string;
     items?: Array<{
       guid?: string;
-      url?: string;
+      url?: string | null;
       title?: string;
       summary?: string;
       author?: string;
@@ -125,7 +137,7 @@ export async function readFeed(
         sub: feed.slug,
         title: decode(String(item.title ?? '')),
         text: decode(String(item.summary ?? '')),
-        url: String(item.url ?? guid),
+        url: postUrl(item.url, guid, feed.slug, base),
         // A blog's posts are one voice: the feed, not a crowd, so it counts once.
         author: String(item.author ?? '').trim() || `feed:${feed.slug}`,
         postedAt: item.publishedAt ?? new Date(0).toISOString(),