So it turns out that in WordPress (at least the newest version - I don’t know about older versions), by default, you can’t have an RSS feed show full-text - it only shows excerpts. The culprit? This snatch of code from wp-includes/feed-rss2.php:
<?php if (get_option('rss_use_excerpt')) : ?>
<description><![CDATA[<?php the_excerpt_rss() ?>]]> |
<?php else : ?>
<description><![CDATA[<?php the_excerpt_rss() ?>]]> |
Seriously, guys, that’s just sloppy damned coding. I would assume it was on purpose if it weren’t for the fact that in the lines immediately following, which go over the content of the <content:encoded> element, are written correctly. Way to go, WordPress!
Anyone, for anyone wanting full-text RSS feeds, just convert the second call to the_except_rss() to the_content().
(Warning: this is a very angry rant. I am using a WordPress version that I do not like in order to write about how much I do not like this WordPress version, so you can imagine how thoughtful and meaningful this is. Skip if you do not like vitriol being spewed in the general direction of web software.)