"There was a YAML syntax error"... "mapping values are not allowed in this context"

Question

There are so many posts describing this same error, and I have tried to read them all to find out exactly what is causing my error.

I have tried mangling this file eleven different ways, even reverting it back to the original file - still no luck. What am I missing?

The error is supposedly on "line 3 column 22" - which does not exist. I have no jekyll parser on the client side, everything is being handled through GitHub Pages.

https://github.com/drovani/drovani.github.io/commits/master/_config.yml

#
# This file contains configuration flags to customize your site
#

# Name of your site (displayed in the header)
name: "Rovani in C#"

# Short bio or description (displayed in the header)
description: "Ostinato, Pensato, Scordatura"

# URL of your avatar or profile pic (you could use your GitHub profile pic)
avatar: https://avatars3.githubusercontent.com/u/898478

#
# Flags below are optional
#

# Includes an icon in the footer for each username you enter
footer-links:
  dribbble:
  email: [email protected]
  facebook:
  flickr:
  github: drovani
  instagram:
  linkedin:
  pinterest:
  rss: # just type anything here for a working RSS icon
  twitter: davidrovani
  stackoverflow: "users/28310/drovani"
  youtube: # channel/<your_long_string> or user/<user-name>
  googleplus: # anything in your profile username that comes after plus.google.com/


# Enter your Disqus shortname (not your username) to enable commenting on posts
# You can find your shortname on the Settings page of your Disqus account
disqus: drovani

# Enter your Google Analytics web tracking code (e.g. UA-2110908-2) to activate tracking
google_analytics: UA-82341148-1

# Your website URL (e.g. http://barryclark.github.io or http://www.barryclark.co)
# Used for Sitemap.xml and your RSS feed
url:

# If you're hosting your site at a Project repository on GitHub pages
# (http://yourusername.github.io/repository-name)
# and NOT your User repository (http://yourusername.github.io)
# then add in the baseurl here, like this: "/repository-name"
baseurl: ""

#
# !! You don't need to change any of the configuration flags below !!
#

permalink: /:title/

# The release of Jekyll Now that you're using
version: v1.2.0

# Jekyll 3 now only supports Kramdown for Markdown
kramdown:
  # Use GitHub flavored markdown, including triple backtick fenced code blocks
  input: GFM
  # Jekyll 3 and GitHub Pages now only support rouge for syntax highlighting
  syntax_highlighter: rouge
  syntax_highlighter_opts:
    # Use existing pygments syntax highlighting css
    css_class: 'highlight'

# Set the Sass partials directory, as we're using @imports
sass:
  style: :expanded # You might prefer to minify using :compressed

# Use the following plug-ins
gems:
  - jekyll-sitemap # Create a sitemap using the official Jekyll sitemap gem
  - jekyll-feed # Create an Atom feed using the official Jekyll feed gem

# Exclude these files from your production _site
exclude:
  - Gemfile
  - Gemfile.lock
  - LICENSE
  - README.md
  - CNAME

Answer 1

Instead of the issue being in the _config.yml file, it was in a completely different file altogether. So, if you get this error message from building a github-pages Jekyll page, don't assume that it is in the only "YAML" file. Search any new file that you have added for a Line 3 Column 22 and that will track down the error.

In my case, it was a title for a post in the front matter had a colon with a space after it - which I needed to put double-quotes around.