New xfbml “Like” button + CloudFlare 503 error kills count?

Question

Recently switched to XFBML to make our page more efficient. However, we noticed that when we started using fb:like vs. the old iframe new Facebook Likes are no longer recording!

Wanted to get some insight on this. The Facebook debugger is not returning error codes so we're in the dark about what's causing this!

Code reference, everything checks out though:

<fb:like href="http://www.example.com/" send="false" layout="button_count" show_faces="false" width="90" font="arial" action="like"></fb:like>

CloudFlare: I did notice that CloudFlare was sometimes deflecting traffic from the Facebook debug/linter and wanted to know if that could be related? Here's an example request you can try: http://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/og/object?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vancitybuzz.com%2F2012%2F01%2Fwhat-lurks-below-british-columbia%2F

Thanks for the help!

Update: this issue is occurring on multiple methods for "like" (HTML5, etc.)

Answer 1

It took a recipe to figure this one out, but if you have the same symptoms (CloudFlare, Wordpress site, Facebook "Like" button not working in both xfbml and html5 formats) then here is what I recommend:

• Contact CloudFlare and request an update of all Whitelisted IPs
• Remove CloudFlare setting to check for browser integrity
• Clear and/or change all cache-control headers
• Wait a day so CF servers have a chance to propogate
• Perform a linter/debugger reset on "likes" that lost count: http://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug
• Add your Facebook ID to the meta tag
• Like items you want "rejuvenated"
• Wait one more day for Facebook servers to propagate and sync accordingly

The key was giving the problem time, since both CloudFlare and Facebook have vast servers that require syncing mechanisms, and may take days to catch up.

Answer 2

We have actually identified the issue (worked with Facebook) and we believe a proper fix went out for this. Our internal tests & reports from other customers indicate that the 503 debugger issue is no longer being returned.

If you see other problems with the debugger at all, please contact CloudFlare.