Is TrackBack really a two-way
Is TrackBack really a two-way link as envisioned in the original hypertext theory, where both sides know of the existence of the link (as opposed to an HTML link where only one side knows)? People have been trying to emulate that idea by tracking referrers. With some success, but always limited by the nature of referrers: someone has to click, not exactly a two way link. If this is so; very cool. Too bad about the complexity of implementation though.
June 29th, 2002 at 6:49 pm
The absurdity of the complexity is this: MoveableType could implement the same effect (pinging the original article) simply by doing a HTTP GET for the original URL, behind the scenes, complete with faked up referrer information. This would work with non-MT sites too, as it simply shows up as a referrer.
A simple automation of the ego-cheat click. I know I’ve occasionally done the self-click just to register the referrer ;-)
June 30th, 2002 at 3:14 am
That’s an interesting idea… I’m trying to think of a counterargument but can’t find one.
June 30th, 2002 at 3:15 am
Yes… I’m trying to think of a counterargument but I can’t find one…
June 30th, 2002 at 3:16 am
That’s weird, Mozilla doesn’t refresh the page after I click Submit. Annoying.
June 30th, 2002 at 7:13 am
About half an hour later I noticed a flaw: many of the current referrer linkbacks rely on client side javascript, which probably won’t get executed by a simple request-the-page script.
I notice though that the MT functionality includes it scanning and parsing the referred page, looking for hidden codes of it’s own (which it then presents in the resultant dialog). It wouldn’t be that difficult to scan for and act on the various bits of known javascripts, if present.