I tried to explain this concept nicely once to a relatively new blogger, who proceeded to respond that I couldn't tell him when to link me and when not to link me, and implied that I was a bit of a fascist for making an issue of it.

It was his blog, you see, and his rules.

[sigh]

Mine too. I deleted his TB ping.

Heh.

Fascist!

Hey I was called a fascist by a bunch of bloggers merely because I have comment registration. They even did a whole series of attack posts about my fascism. Which is funny, because I can't even get the trains to run on time ...

Amen! I have tried to explain this nicely to a number of newbie bloggers in a nice way and most have responded nicely, but one was slightly testy and one just plain blew up! The latter accused me of being rude and said he would have done (linked) it if I would just said it nicely. (I used such phrases as, "I don't know if you knew," "if you would please, I would greatly appreciate it.", "I understand", etc.)

Maybe some of you blogging greats (Bill, Captain Ed?) could write up a standard comment post that we could use to tell newbs about this ettiquette (replete with links to various resources). I would love that. I would do it myself, but with my (relatively) small audience (40,000 unique a month) it wouldn't gain the kind of traction as if one of y'all would do it.

Hmmm... must be catching Michele C. posted a similar thing this morning

Bill,
screw the trains. If you could get the planes to run on time, you'd be voted dictator for life.

Okay, I'm pretty new and still haven't figured this thing out. I can link just fine, and I do that. Whether the original blog sees the link, I have no idea.

I've written to typepad about trackbacks and they told me I can only do it by linking with a Quickpost. I've done that and yet I don't see the trackbacks on the original blog.

So maybe it's just ineptitude...just my two cents.

Oh, and the email notification thingie. I read another blogger's etiquette advice--think it was one of the millblogs--and they said emailing someone was tacky and kind of desperate, like soliciting.

So, please, explain!

PJ -

1. You are talking about ineptitude sending trackbacks and you say that no one is inept at linking. We're talking about sending a trackback WITHOUT a link. So as long as you link, there should be no problem with trackback ineptuitude.

2. Sending e-mails can be tacky or polite. Some bloggers are jerks about receiving e-mails. There are no hard and fast rules. If you have something interesting, go ahead and send it to bloggers. But A. Don't ever EXPECT a link, and B. Don't send 5 e-mails a day, every day.

Save it for the particularly good/relevant/unique stuff. Don't be afraid to try and get your stuff out there.

Follow those guides and you should be fine.

Thanks, Bill.

Okay, so if you do the Quickpost, which is supposedly a trackback, you should also mention something in your post and link it?

What if you just write something and link it? Does the other blogger see that in some specific way other than just a referral?

Yeah, Bill's rules are pretty good.

I think emailing depends on the blog. Some blogs, like Instapundit, are built around linking other blogs they think have something interesting to say and expressly welcome being sent blog posts now and then. Other blogs are more content-oriented, and aren't really receptive to emails. Some (like me) don't even post their email.

I haven't bothered with trackbacks, personally. I'm not sure how much purpose they really serve so to this point I've only linked.

TallDave: You are missing out! I love to see when people trackback me!

From a purely selfish viewpoint, trackbacks are good: I got 6000+ hits from Captain Ed when I linked and trackbacked the Gomery commission scandal.

PJ,

You don't have to do it through QuickPost, you can do it when you're creating a normal post. You just have to customize your creating-a-post page settings so that the trackback field shows.

Go here and scroll down to "Sending a TrackBack from the Post Page".

Well, I hate to take up Bill's comments, but maybe it will help somebody else...when I hit post screen configuration, I just get a choice of real text, blah, blah, so that's why I have to trackback in quickpost. I get the lowest priced package.

If you're running WordPress with the Spam Karma 2 plugin, you can ensure that Trackbacks include a valid link back to you. I was surprised once to find that someone I knew had had a Trackback blocked. And then I looked at the post... no link! Ya scurvy dog!