What's the deal?

Put simply, it takes a lot of processing power and server RAM to generate the RSS feeds.  Multiply that by the thousands of users we have, and it can be a severe bottleneck.  So, a council of wise elders was convened and it was decided that a nice round number be selected.  That number would be 500.

What do you mean by "items"?  I'm subscribed to about 50 shows, how can I have over 500 "items"??

So in this case, "items" are literally the <item> tags in your RSS feed.  They refer to individual episodes, not the number of shows you are subscribed to.

Okay but I still don't understand how I can rack up over 500 items! EXPLAIN IT!!

In order to prevent bittorrent clients from re-downloading an episode you've already seen (because a torrent site uploads a new version weeks after the episode aired), EpisodeFeed keeps a history of previous episodes in your RSS feed. This helps some bittorrent clients (like Qbittorrent) to "remember" which episodes you've already downloaded.  So if you're subscribed to 50 shows, and each show has recently put out 5 episodes a week for the last month, then you can easily get to 500 items in your RSS feed.

Who does this affect?

Some users like to enable the downloading of duplicates. Also, some users have LOTS of shows, including shows that air daily. When you combine these concepts, it can easily soar to 500 items.

Will this affect me?

Probably not.  The vast majority of users are well below the maximum threshold.  At last count, of the 2100+ active users, only 31 people had reached the 500 mark.

It affects me!  What can I do?!

Well, by far the easiest thing you can do is to not allow duplicates on every show (if that's what you are doing).  If you have that set globally and didn't mean to, check out your user settings screen and tell it to not allow duplicates.

The other option requires a little bit of baby sitting, but if you still want to allow duplicates for every show, then temporarily change just one show to not allow dupes, download what you like, then change it back.

Something else to consider-- you might want to exclude certain data sources.  Some sources have essentially the exact same torrents (ex: EZTV and The Pirate Bay), so if you are allowing duplicates, then you're really getting double the shows from these different torrents.

Another option: If you aren't downloading duplicates at all, but still have this problem, you might temporarily remove shows from your "My Shows" list when they finish their run for the season, then add them back in later before the new season begins.  Not ideal, I know, but there you go.

I am filled with rage and don't want to make any changes!  WHAT NOW?!

Well, don't tell anyone this, but I guess you could create a second account with a different email address. Then you'd just split your episodes between the two accounts. Just please have a thought for this poor old site and its overworked vCPU and RAM. If too many people did this, it could absolutely bring the site down or cause other general instability. Also-- if you haven't already, please consider donating!