After thinking some more about yesterday’s post, I have some more thoughts. Sam Gentile mentioned that weblogs seem to work better for people than more direct interactions; so why not embrace this, and see if we can get more out of weblogs? It might not get Sam all the way to where he wants to be, but it would certainly be better than where we are now.
Let’s take this discussion for example. Sam made his initial post yesterday sometime, and got a couple of replies (mine and Sam Ruby’s) that I knew about quickly. But what about others? Rahul also replied, but I only found it by searching Technorati. Similarly, unless Sam decides to link to these posts, many of his readers will never know about them. Sam does, because I know he religiously scans his referrer logs :-), but no one else will know.
So how to fix this? It seems to me TrackBack or Pingback is the way to go. Automated notifications between weblogs, encouraging more widespread collaboration. As far as I know, Movable Type users already get this for free, if they enable it. For Radio folks, Google reveals a couple of people doing it, albeit with a bit more work.
So, everyone, how about implementing TrackBack and/or Pingback on your weblogs – and let’s see where it takes us?
Would you be interested in an automated trackback mechanism using Technorati’s Link Cosmos feeature? I could create an “automated trackback” capability via an XML-RPC call to Technorati and some client code on your website. It would provide you with an instant view of who is linking to your blog article, but it would also take lost more network + server resources of a centralized service like Technorati. Would you be willing to pay for an XML-RPC feed lke this? If so, how much?
Interesting idea, David. I don’t think I’d want to make a call like that on every page view, mostly because of the added latency. I suppose I could cache the information, and make a call every 15 minutes or so…
But for now, I wouldn’t want to pay for such a service; since this new site has just come online, I’d rather wait and see how the automated referrer and trackback/pingback stuff works. This doesn’t mean I won’t change my mind, though…so don’t let me discourage you!
I got an error when I tried to trackback to this site. Below is the request and response:
*** Trackback http://www.rassoc.com/gregr/weblog/Trackback.aspx?post=517
1 URL is required for trac
url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.intertwingly.net%2Fblog%2F1071.html&blog_name=Sam+Ruby&exce
rpt=My+guess+is+that+the+next+logical+step+is+trackback+threading.++This+represe
nts+a+small+challenge+for+those+of+us+who+comingle+trackbacks+and+direct+comment
s%2C+but+I%27m+sure+that+this+can+be+overcome.++Amusingly%2C+trackback+is+to++li
nkbackparser+as+Mark%27s&title=Trackback+Threading
kback
The tags in the response got eaten. Let’s try again
<?xml version=”1.0″?><response><error>1</error><message>URL is required for trac
kback</message></response>
Sam, are you using HTTP GET? My implementation only supports POST. The spec said GET is being deprecated (tomorrow ;-), but I could implement it if it’s still in widespread use…
Ok, a quick scan of my server logs shows that it was indeed a GET that was failing. I modified my implementation to accept either GET or POST…can you try again?
My guess is that the next logical step is trackback threading. This represents a small challenge for those of us who comingle trackbacks and direct comments, but I’m sure that this can be overcome. Amusingly, trackback is to linkbackparser as Mark’s…[more]
Looks like Simon is working on a pingback implementation for Radio. Excellent!
The holidays (and associated downtime) are over and its back to business. This is a summary of the interesting and noteworthy news and posts that where made while I was out….[more]
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That’s some serious comment spam you’ve got going there. I’ve got a CAPTCHA solution posted on my site.
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