I host a trackback party EVERY weekend. I have hosted it for nearly a year and I’ve noticed several things that need to be addressed. Somtimes things don’t go as planned. You send a ping yet it doesn’t show up. The servers quite frequently screw up (your ping throttled; or you are pinging too quickly). And sometimes popular blogs just seemingly send out a ‘bunch’ of pings that think they are so good that their software is infallible. Ha!(Outside The Beltway and Stop The ACLU are fine examples of this).
So, here’s a list of things to consider whether you are hosting or posting…
1) First and foremost: When hosting a trackback party, make darn sure EVERYONE that has pinged you gets a ping in return. Without exception. It is your duty to do that. Sit your arse down and look at each and every one.
2) If you send a ping, follow-up on it. If you haven’t received a reciprocal ping in say 10 or 12 hours then send the blogger host an email. Don’t be shy.
3) If you repeatedly get an error when trying to send a reciprocal ping then leave a comment on the blogger’s site explaining that you’ve experienced trouble sending the ping. Perhaps the blogger has some insight as to how to correct that.
4) Sometimes, certain bloggers do not like to receive trackbacks if your post/article is unrelated. Two examples would be Don Surber and David from third world county. Respect their rules. I have previously trackbacked with an unrelated post to Mr. Surber before and his very nice comment was: ‘Thanks for the unrelated trackback’. When I read that I knew that it was probably inappropriate to tb that particular article. Lesson learned.
There are of course, exceptions… I allow, how should I say this…um certain bloggers to tb to ANY post I publish because I know the same goes for me (you know who you are – Debbie and Terry)… Before linking an unrelated post make sure that the blogger doesn’t mind.
5) Don’t post your ‘trackback’ party to someone else’s ‘Open Trackback’ thread. That’s like stealing. Get your own mojo.
6) See Sam’s Rules…
Thanks for being courteous…
The following blogs could probably benefit from this bit of info… Outside The Thoughtless Blogger and Stop The Mindless Attention Getter
