TrackBack
From Free net encyclopedia
TrackBack is a mechanism for the communication between blogs: if a blogger writes a new entry commenting on, or referring to, an entry found at another blog, and both blogging tools support the TrackBack protocol, then the commenting blogger can notify the other blog with a "TrackBack ping"; the receiving blog will typically display summaries of, and links to, all the commenting entries below the original entry. This allows for conversations spanning several blogs that readers can easily follow.
Blogging software that supports the TrackBack protocol displays a "TrackBack URL" along with every entry. This URL is used by the commenting blogger, whose software will send XML-formatted information about the new entry to this URL. Some blogging tools are able to discover these TrackBack URLs automatically, others require the commenting blogger to enter them manually.
The TrackBack specification is thanks to Six Apart which first implemented it in its Movable Type blogging software in 2002. It has since been implemented in most other blogging tools. Six Apart started a working group in February 2006 to improve the Trackback protocol and have it potentially approved as an internet standard by the IETF. One notable blogging tool that doesnot support trackback yet is [Blogger].
Some individuals or companies have abused the TrackBack feature to insert spam links on some blogs (see sping). This is similar to comment spam but avoids some of the safeguards designed to stop the latter practice. As a result, TrackBack spam filters similar to those implemented against comment spam now exist in many weblog publishing systems. Many blogs have stopped using trackbacks because dealing with spam became too burdensome.
See also
- Pingback, a protocol providing essentially the same functionality
External links
- A Beginner's Guide to TrackBack, by Mena and Ben Trott
- Official specification
- TrackBack Development
- Trackback Working Group wiki
- What is Trackback? by Tom Coates
- All about Trackbacks and Pingbacks with Wordpress by Mike
- WordPress Tutorial: Using Trackbacks and Pingbacks
- HaloScan Trackback - Free trackback tools (receiving and sending)
- Trackback Validator Plugin for WordPress: Trackback spam blocker
- Trackback wizard: execute a manual trackback, if your blog software does not support it.ca:Trackback
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