As part of an (hopefully) ongoing series – here’s the most very basic introduction as to what Trackback can do. This is not a study of how it is done – and it makes certain assumptions that I’ll go into in an upcoming lesson (assuming I get around to it) – but I think it might be enough to get that basic first point across to people who are confused by all the other stuff it can do…
(Addendum added April 2005: In a later post I came up with this short and pithy description: “When someone links to one of my posts, my post links back to them”. I think that’s just as useful as the run-through that follows.)
You can also download this image as a .pdf what_is_trackback.pdf. This diagram was created in the awesome OmniGraffle – a product of the Omni Group. I plan to use it loads more from now on…
Addendum: This is not supposed to be directed at the average weblogger of a few months standing. This is just for those newbies who’ve not managed to see it in context enough or who don’t find the name particularly descriptive.
The image was replaced on 5 August 2026 for clarity. The original is available here.
