Let’s go through an example of using a trackback, step by step.
- First, make a post on your own blog that talks about Chasing the Wind. “Michael said something interesting at “Chasing the Wind.”
- If you’re on Livejournal, at the bottom of the post you just made it says “Link.” Click it, and that’s your “permalink” for that post, and it appears in your browser’s address bar. It’ll look like this: http://www.livejournal.com/~spinthemoon/5108.html
- If you’re on blogger.com, your permalink can be found by clicking on the timestamp; e.g. http://courtneycs.blogspot.com/2004/07/testing-1-2-3.html .
- Now come to Chasing the Wind and find this post. You can find my permalink by clicking on the title, “Blogger Tip: Trackback Pings Redux.” The permalink for this post is http://www.chasingthewind.net/index.php?p=177 and should be listed in your browser’s address bar.
- Once you click the title of this post, look at the bottom of my post but before the comments begin. There should be a link that says, “Trackback URI”. When your mouseover it, and if your browser supports it, it should say http://www.chasingthewind.net/wordpress/wp-trackback.php/177. Put your mouse on it, right-click it, and choose “Copy shortcut”.
- Ok, now you have all the information you need to fill out the SimpleTracks form. There are five lines to fill out:
- Trackback URL: That’s my trackback entry where you’re trying to get a link back to your site. Right-click on that field and choose “Paste.” If you did Step 3 properly above, it should fill the field in with http://www.chasingthewind.net/wordpress/wp-trackback.php/177
- Your permalink URL: That’s the link where you’re talking about me, your permalink. Put http://www.livejournal.com/~spinthemoon/5108.html or http://courtneycs.blogspot.com/2004/07/testing-1-2-3.html
- Title: That’s the title of your post, “Mosquitos R Us” or “Testing 1-2-3”.
- Except: A short blurb that summarizes your post: “Michael gets bit by mosquitos, too” or “Chasing the Wind never supplies #2 pencils.”
- Your Blog Name: Spin the Moon or Spritzy.
- Press “Submit” and wait 10 seconds or so. You should get a message that says Pinging http://www.chasingthewind.net/wordpress/wp-trackback.php/177… Success!
That’s it; you have a new link on my site that points back to your site, increasing the number of readers for both of us. Practice on this post if you want to. 🙂
Chasing the Wind 
I tried. It said it was successful. How do I know if it worked?
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I tried, tried again. No worky for me 😦
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Wouldn’t you know, *my* software is bugged and doesn’t recognize all trackbacks. It seems to be random – for instance, dawned.net has a successful trackback in comment #2 this morning. I looked over Courtney’s shoulder this morning and she did it correctly; she got the success message, too.
I’ll follow up with WordPress and find out where my bug is, but if you got the “success” message then likely you did it right. That means my WordPress software received it, acknowledged it, and like a forgetful teenager, forgot to give me the message.
But you can use this technique on any site that supports trackbacks – this morning, besides dawned’s comments I see somebody named Chrisshort.net left a trackback on the previous Trackback post, so I can go see what he’s saying on his blog that’s relevant.
Wouldn’t you know a bug would surface just as we’re practicing trackbacks. Hrumph.
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Spinthemoon, you might also consider filling your website, http://www.livejournal.com/~spinthemoon/ , in the space where it says URI when you leave a comment here. That’ll make your name clickable – visitors here will be able to click your name and visit your website, too.
Courtney did that with her website “Spritzy” so if you click her name you visit her site.
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I updated WordPress tonight in an attempt to fix trackbacks. Success??
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I wouldn’t know. My site is toast 😦
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Must have been a jinx. Your site just came back up for me.
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Ok, here’s the scoop: I updated my WordPress software to fix trackback pings, and it’s still not fixed. However, they made it much hard to figure out what my trackback entry is. I don’t like the new method and I’ve posted on the developers board.
I had to change Step #3 above; instead of cutting-n-pasting my trackback, now there’s a link called trackback. It doesn’t go anywhere if you click it though. Instead, to find my trackback, right-click on the “Trackback” link and choose “Copy Shortcut”. Now you can go to the trackback form, rightclick on the form where you want my trackback entry, and choose “Paste”. That should fill in the form properly.
I’ve edited the original post to show the new instructions.
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Ping, Ping. Still no ping ping.
I’m a ping. You’re a ping. Everyone’s a ping ping.
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Too bad. So sad. Love Dad.
It’ll still work on other blogs, just not mine. 😦
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‘A+’ for effort!
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It’s possible the trackback form itself I post is broke. This form seems to be recommend for trackbacks, so try this instead:
SimpleTracks
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HOOOOOORRAAAAAAYYYY!!
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🙂
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Whoo Hooo! It worked!!! Courtney rules!
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Er… yes! Courtney rocks! 😛
I’ll change the instructions above to point at the new form.
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It’s almost working, Mulligan. You listed *my* trackback location fine, but you should have listed your permalink, not your trackback info. I can’t click your link. Try it again. 🙂
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