TrackBacks for Nothing… And Your Links for Free
Posted March 31st, 2003 @ 06:03pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Speaking of TrackBacks… I find it somewhat offensive to link (and thus TrackBack) to articles while offering nothing new to the topic. While not the same as TrackBack spam, this kind of thing is pretty close.
Is it too much to ask that you even write a simple "I agree" or "This is funny shit, check it out"? Pretty please? People will come to my article (or they won't - whatever), follow a TrackBack, and be greeted with… absolutely nothing new. Tony, most of your blog seems to be like this. C'mon man. 😛 Turn off TrackBacks for the posts on which you're simply acting as a pointer, not commenting. Pretty please?
P.S. Apologies to Mark Knopfler for stealing the title for this one. That song came out the year Jamie was born… Eek! :-O
Donate Life
Posted 31 Mar 2003 at 6:16pm #
Whew. Sorry if I upset you. I have a habit of linking directly to stuff I find interesting, even if I don't provide any commentary. I like to know when people link to my stuff with trackbacks. I guess I just assumed you would, too. Apologies all around. I'll stop posting trackbacks to your site, unless I write something truly profound.
On the upside, I *do* agree with your entry, on just about all counts. The far-extreme feminists upset me when they take my courtesy and good nature for instruments of manipulation and control.
Posted 31 Mar 2003 at 6:23pm #
Relatively new to blogging, I've made a point to only trackback when I have some commentary on the subject. That said, I do link to many blog entries (but without trackback)... as I still think my audience would like them, but there is no value in having my URL associated on article since I have nothing to add.
Posted 31 Mar 2003 at 6:24pm #
Not really upset, just trying to prod you a little. 🙂 I'm just a little disappointed when I get a TrackBack, because I'm interested in what people have to say about what I've written, only to find… nothing.
Don't make a habit of it or I'll have to sic the TrackBack Police on you, buddy! 🙂
Posted 31 Mar 2003 at 7:13pm #
Good thing you at least gave fair warning Erik. Some bloggers will outright ban people who ping without any commentary. It only took one time for me to understand this. 😉
Posted 01 Apr 2003 at 9:50pm #
With all due respect, you're not seeing the big picture here; these linkers are doing you a great service, and they are the foundation of why people like Doc Searls or Dave Winer are 'famous' ... or even Madonna: It is the faceless public, with their voice of support through 'buying' into what you say that makes for fame, _we_ created Madonna, not her, and we own Mark Pilgrim.
I was talking to a collegue today who expressed this same "what use is a link" idea, and also that content is important and how the blogosphere makes the cream rise.
I stopped him to point out the missing fact: the cream rises because the milk pushes it up.
These links are votes, they say "nslog is worth the bother" and you gain Google Juice and rise up in the Technorati/Blogdex/Daypop ratings. The links may also say "People who liked nslog also like teledyn" and that, my friend, is metadata we can trust.