Manage your sources in FeedMansion

What are sources?

Sources are where your content comes from. FeedMansion connects to three types of sources:

• Feeds: RSS or Atom feeds from blogs, news sites, or YouTube channels
• Calendars: iCalendar feeds (.ics) with events, meetings, or scheduled content
• Email inboxes: Dedicated email addresses that receive newsletters, press releases, or content you forward

Each source produces items. A blog post, a calendar event, or an email becomes one item in your item stream. Your ghost writers use these items to generate drafts.

Where do sources live?

Go to Manage > Sources to add, edit, or remove sources.

Go to Inbox to browse all items from your sources in one stream.

The item stream

The item stream is your content discovery workspace. Instead of checking each source separately, you see all items together:

• Feed items: Blog posts, articles, YouTube videos
• Calendar items: Events, meetings, scheduled announcements
• Email items: Newsletters, press releases, forwarded content

Filter by source type, date, or status to find what matters. Click an item to see its details and take action.

Refreshing a source

Sources update automatically in the background. When you add a new source, FeedMansion starts fetching items within minutes.

To refresh manually, go to Manage > Sources, open the menu next to any source, and choose Refresh.

Refresh is rate-limited to once per day per source. Most of the time, you don't need manual refreshes.

Spotting stale or broken sources

Check the Last refreshed column in the sources list:

• Recent refresh: Source is working correctly
• Old date: Source may be inactive or unreachable
• Error status: Feed URL changed, calendar was deleted, or inbox connection failed

For feeds, common issues:

• Feed URL moved or changed format
• Site went offline or blocks automated access
• YouTube channel was deleted or made private

For calendars:

• Calendar URL changed
• Calendar sharing was disabled
• .ics file is no longer available

Fix these by updating the source URL or removing the broken source.

When to ignore an item

Not every item needs a draft. Ignore items that:

• Don't match your audience or brand voice
• Are too time-sensitive or already outdated
• Cover topics you don't post about
• Are low-quality or irrelevant

Ignored items stay in your Inbox but won't appear in your main item stream. You can unignore them later if you change your mind.

To ignore an item, go to Inbox, open the menu on the item card, and choose Ignore.

When to generate from an item

Generate a draft when an item:

• Aligns with your content strategy
• Contains valuable insights for your audience
• Can be adapted to your brand voice
• Is timely but not urgent

Ghost writers read the item, extract key points, and create drafts in your configured voice. You review, edit, and approve before anything publishes.

To generate from an item, go to Inbox, click Generate on the item card, choose a ghost writer, then review and approve the draft in Review.

Setting up ghost writers with sources

Ghost writers link to sources so they can monitor items automatically:

1. Go to Manage > Ghost Writers
2. Create or edit a ghost writer
3. Under Sources, select the feeds, calendars, or inboxes to monitor
4. Set up auto-drafts to generate automatically from new items

One source can feed multiple ghost writers. Each ghost writer creates drafts in its own voice, so the same blog post might become a professional LinkedIn post and a casual tweet.

Things to know

• No sources yet: Add your first RSS feed, calendar, or email inbox to get started. Sources appear in your Inbox within minutes of adding them.
• No items found: If a source shows no items, it may not have been fetched yet. Click Refresh to fetch the latest content.
• No ghost writers yet: Create a ghost writer before generating drafts. Without a ghost writer, you cannot generate from items.
• Refresh failed: If refresh shows an error, the source URL may have changed or the site may be unavailable. Check the URL and try again.
• Rate limiting: You can refresh each source once per day. Most of the time, automatic polling keeps sources up to date.
• Deleting a source: Removing a source deletes all its items and any drafts generated from those items. You cannot undo this.

Best practices

• Start with a few sources: Add your most important content first, then expand
• Check your item stream daily: New items appear throughout the day
• Ignore early and often: Keep your stream focused on relevant content
• Refresh manually only when needed: Automatic polling handles most updates
• Remove unused sources: Clean up sources that no longer provide value

Your sources are the foundation of your content pipeline. Keep them healthy and your ghost writers will always have fresh material to work with.