Trackback
I implemented the MT backtrack functionality yesterday.
I was planning on holding off until the site redesign here, but I'm not sure when I will have time to finish that, and I needed to figure out how the feature works anyway -- so now it's implemented.
It works best with individual archives (here's why), as I've discovered when trying to ping other MT sites, so I had to reconfigure slightly to add individual archives to the existing monthly archives. I'm sure Ben will eventually modify the feature to be more friendly across all archive types, but for now individual archives are best.
So what is the significance of Trackback (or, why should anyone care)?
It's a convenience tool as much as anything -- you post something, several other people write about it, and *boom* (hey, football season is close, I can use *boom*) you have an ongoing internet discussion. But blogs and the web are decentralized, and it's hard to keep track of all that chatter. Inline comments are fine, but some people prefer to write in their own blogs; a forum is fine, but again, some people prefer to write in their own blogs (or to stray off the moderator's topic). Trackback helps keep track of it all, effortlessly, without the need of searching referrer logs for links and manually pasting them into old posts, or emailing bloggers that you've followed up on their topic and hoping they recognize your contribution.
I hope that Trackback catches on with some of the "bigger" MT blogs that have either not upgraded to MT 2.21 or not implemented the feature, especially the people who most praise the wonders of the "blogosphere" (I agree with Jim Hart's characterization of that term! And there is interesting discussion that follows in his comments -- But Jim, I can't ping ya buddy!). And I also hope that other systems consider implementing the functionality; there is already a prototype system for non-MT users, and MetaFilter has also implemented trackback. These are good developments.
[Posted at 10:27 CST on 08/11/02] [Link]
