Hey, there’s a party going on and I’ve got the open invite, but I can’t get a ticket.
You see, I am stuck here in Blogger Beta land where TrackBack seems like a secret, mysterious, and very “occult” social club. Actually I used the term “occult” because that simply means hidden knowledge. And those of us using Blogger Beta feel very left out of the “knowledge base” of the TrackBack social club.
Finally a few folks in the know are attempting to reveal the secrets of Trackback.
Here’s a good explanation of how to use Trackback from the Alliance of Free Blogs
Here’s another good explanation of Trackback from Bad Example
Bad Example also shared this:
“But here's a little secret: YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE TRACKBACKS ENABLED ON YOUR OWN BLOG TO SEND A TRACKBACK TO SOMEONE ELSE, AS LONG AS *THEY* HAVE TRACKBACKS ENABLED. . .”
Be sure to check out Bad Example’s “poor man's trackback” tip. I’ll just call it the “Poor Blogger Beta trackback tip”.
Until today, I didn’t’ even realize that the TrackBack URL is different from the regular permanent link URL. Who knew, go figure?
Woman Honor Thyself provided the vital piece of info about finding the trackback URL
“Just include this permalink in your post and…
use this url for the trackback ..(Just right click where it says “permalink” or “trackback” below and then click on “copy shortcut” to get the “permalink” and trackback URL.)”
Wow! This was all so new to me. So I did just as she said and this is the trackback URL to the Woman Honor Thyself post.
http://www.womanhonorthyself.com/wp-trackback.php?p=1919
Notice how the above differs from her permalink below.
http://www.womanhonorthyself.com/?p=1919
So how on earth could I find the TrackBack URL for my Blogger Beta Blog post???
Oh, yes, I keep forgetting. I DON’T HAVE TRACKBACK BECAUSE BLOGGER BETA DOESN’T SUPPORT IT!!! But all is not lost. If you are willing to do a little template manipulation you can add some template code to get trackback. But from the comments I’ve read, I’m not ready to tackle that yet.
There are some ways to hack your Blogger Beta’s template to get HaloScan comments and/or trackback on Blogger Beta.
Here’s a template hacking solution from Fresh Blog
Potentate Matthew I has a good solution.
Well I might play with this a little bit. I think for the most part, I’ll be using Bad Example’s “poor man’s trackback” tip and when I can find a trackback URL, I’ll just fill out the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger or the Kalsey pinger.
If you have any Blogger Beta solutions that are simple and easy for non hackers to understand, please add your comments.
Update (a few minutes later)
Well, I could only send 1 succsssful trackback – the other’s generated error messages on both the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger and the Kalsey pinger. So, for now, it definitely the “poor man’s trackback” method.
See also Freshblog's Trackback What? Why? How? which lays out in detail the way to install & use Haloscan w/ Blogger.
ReplyDeleteThanks John for sending me back to your Freshblog's Trackback What? Why? How? I found your explanation and instructions very user friendly! On a day when I feel particularly bright, I’m going to try the manual install of comments only. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteCorrection: See it's late and I'm not bright tonight. I'm going to try the mmanual install of the trackback only!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link Fault..and good luck!..I used to be on Blogger so I know how ya feel hun..!
ReplyDeleteThe more I read about all the problems encountered by those who have already switched over to "Blogger Beta," the more I don't want to make the switch! However, I know that some day (according to their announcement) I will be forced to switch over. Not happy about that...
ReplyDeleteOk...I'm frustrated as heck and pulling my hair out! I have tried every way possible to get trackbacks, manually and installing thru Haloscan. It seems like the "updated" templetes may not support, I'm not quite sure! I couldn't get anything to work! In Haloscan I couldn't log in under my blogger log in but it shows my wordpress blog (which I don't use Haloscan for) but is the same name! Go figure!! Can't anything be easy??
ReplyDeleteChristine and One Country Voice. Thanks for your comments. I have another blog that I haven’t yet bothered to switch over because I have so many archives etc. I think when I’m forced to it, I’ll probably just start over with a new Blog in a new Beta template. The new Beta templates do have a lot of extra features and seem to work fairly well except for trackback etc.
ReplyDeleteOne Country Voice. I was afraid that the directions for manually adding Haloscan trackback wouldn’t work in the new Beta. I think that the poor man’s trackback solution (see this blog entry) may be good for several reasons. (1) You are taking the time to make a personal comment on the person’s blog that you cited in your blog, and that’s good for developeing blogging relationships. (2) In any particular blog entry you probably haven’t linked to (cited) more than four or five other blogs. (3) It probably only takes you a few minutes more to do it the poor way, than to be more impersonal using the trackback . The down side is that if you don’t use trackback, you are far less visible.
Faultline,
ReplyDeleteI think your suggestion regarding the "poor man's trackback" may be the way to go in blogger beta.
There are two different "types" of templetes, the "classic" and the "updated new" version. It looks like you could find the info needed to update in the "classic" version but I am unsure if you added it and then went to the "new" version if the changes would remain. The "classic" version of the templetes do not appear to give you as much control over the look/feel of your blog.
Not a plug for anyone but I think I'll just redirect to my WP blog which has the trackback capability in it!
Don't sweat the small stuff and thanks for dropping by.
ReplyDelete...BB