Comments on: On Using Manual and/or Automatic Link Notification Systems

By: Anne Helmond » Experimenting with Tweetbacks

Anne Helmond » Experimenting with Tweetbacks — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:08:05 +0000

[...] Trackback and the Pingback, the two common link-notification systems in blogs. For more information On Using Manual and/or Automatic Link Notification Systems read my post on the Blog Herald. The spam problem that has haunted both the trackback and the [...]

By: Trackback Declared Dead… Again! : The Blog Herald

Trackback Declared Dead… Again! : The Blog Herald — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:26:59 +0000

[...] manual. When I described the difference between the manual Trackback and the automatic Pingback in On Using Manual and/or Automatic Link Notification Systems I also described how I mainly relied on [...]

By: 10+ Gründe für oder gegen Trackbacklinks in der Blogosphäre at viralmythen

10+ Gründe für oder gegen Trackbacklinks in der Blogosphäre at viralmythen — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:54:10 +0000

[...] erklärt Unterschied von Track- und [...]

By: Anne Helmond

Anne Helmond — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:57:52 +0000

@Big Fella: That is what I experience too, a lack of visible trackback links. Is the trackback link vanishing?

@Elaine: “I rely on humans to send messages.” is an excellent description of notifying other blogs or engaging them in the conversation. Whether they use trackback/pingback/comments or feeds to communicate, intentional communication usually works best.

@Annie: I personally cannot help you as I am not a Typepad user. I am sure there most be a lot of tutorials out there that will help you to make the actual leap. In WordPress if you go to Manage > Import you will be able to import your Typepad blog (make sure to first export your blog in Typepad). Good luck!

By: Annie B Lawrence

Annie B Lawrence — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:32:49 +0000

I’ve been blogging on blogger and wanting to make the jump to WP or typepad. Can you help me make my decision between the two. I have an account with WP and a host for my blog ready but haven’t made the leap yet. Thanks for your article about track backs. I find a lot of interesting articles here and great info.

By: David LaFerney

David LaFerney — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:19:57 +0000

I’ve only been using WordPress for about 6 months, and I’ve never used manual trackbacks yet, but the way that pingbacks help you to automatically give and receive credit is great.

By: Elaine Vigneault

Elaine Vigneault — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:38:05 +0000

“Do you send manual notifications in the form of trackbacks to other blogs?”
No – I began blogging as a diarist, not as a journalist or as participating in a conversation. I started at eljay, just keeping a personal journal. So I never really understood or took part in trackbacks.

“Or do you rely mainly on automatic pingbacks?”
Yes, but I’m not sure what you mean by ‘rely’. If I really want a blogger involved in the conversation, I’ll go to their place instead of asking them to come to my place. I don’t rely on pings to send messages. I rely on humans to send messages.

“Do you have a particular reason for not using one or the other?”
Just habit mostly. But also feeds are changing the conversation. I rely more on the assumption that anyone who wants to hear what I have to say will subscribe to my feed or come to read my blog, than I rely on the assumption that pings will work. And vice versa – I subscribe to blogs I want to read. I don’t wait for them to ping me to join the conversation.

Basically, I’m in support of whatever’s simplest and easiest for regular bloggers to understand and use. So… pingbacks for now. I’m a big fan of making blogging about free expression and less about technical stuff.

By: Big Fella

Big Fella — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:04:45 +0000

After about 12 months of blogging, I finally realized what the trackback field was for in the WP template. I was still not comfortable understanding the difference between trackbacks and pings, your explanation above is much clearer to me than anything I found on the WP site.

I try to include trackbacks in my posts, but I don’t think they are very successful, because I usually do not find an actual “trackback link” on the blog I want to link to, and try to link to the particular posting (page), but rarely see anything from my blog show up on the blog I am trying to trackback to.

At this point, based on your explanation above, I will go in to my WP Admin module and try and determine if I have pingbacks properly configured.

By: Mike Goad

Mike Goad — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:22:04 +0000

I rely on automatic pingback. It does what I need. Of course, I didn’t know the difference, either.

By: Alessandra

Alessandra — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:42:21 +0000

I am doing just like you! ;-)