Ok, class! I am going to diverge a bit from the abc's of beginning blogging for dummies. The topic today will be GETTING YOUR TERMINOLOGY RIGHT! This subject is prompted by an email from a student who obviously doesn't understand the difference between "link back" and "TrackBack"! Maybe you don't either. The latter is the correct wording: TrackBack! It's a one-word apple, and NOT an orange! Got that?
I will re-print a portion of the email at the end of the post for several reasons. The gal obviously needs a plug for her blog, and since she used her desperation and creativity, she deserves a plug. HOWEVER, she made some mistakes (including the last sentence in her email which doesn't even make sense. What was she smoking up there in the Rockies anyway? Or is she just another writer who needs to edit herself? I'll let you ponder this one.)Her obvious Number One Blunder is not understanding how TrackBacks work and EVEN the correct name.
First of all, since she is using Blogger.com, she couldn't do a trackback if she wanted to! It would be a miracle since Blogger doesn't even have it available. The more advanced platforms like Movable Type, TypePad, WordPress and Radio UserLand include TrackBack as an option. Pro-bloggers are the primary users of trackbacks because they have an ENORMOUS need for attention and readership, and that is why they got so damned good at blogging in the first place.
So what you ask is a TrackBack? For one thing, it's not as bad as having a tack in your back. Har har! Seriously, it's close. I'ts like this: someone wants to get in on the action, and so instead of leaving a comment at the bottom of your blog (as you can easily do with Blogger), they leave their remarks about your post embedded into their post. Pretty sneaky, eh? The TrackBack is INVISIBLE to the writer's readers, but not to the ORIGINAL WRITER'S BLOG where it magically appears on the bottom as a TrackBack. Don't ask me how this happens. It has something to do with circles, computer magic and the craving to get connected.
I'm not ready to do a TrackBack yet either, dear confused beginner blogger, if that makes you feel any better. I have just begun my first WordPress blog this week, and already I am throwing things around my home, and my cat is ducking for cover. Lightening is flashing across a once-clear blue sky whenever I try to make photos work for this blog!
Here's the abbreviated email that I mentioned above. Try not to smirk and feel superior. Give this beginner blogger some love and go check out her new blog (www.funwithmaggie.blogspot.com) if you have time after you have done your blogging homework. Need I say it again, WRITE! Class diss-missed! Yes, I spelled that right!
The Email:
Just read 'Size Matters' on your Blond Blog. You crack me up. But IT absolutely DOES matter!
Here is a new HEADLINE for your Blog....
MAKING IT BIG ...........
Sixty year old woman, Maggie Stone, decides to start life over in the Colorado Rockies. Unable to find work, in a desperate attempt to 'make it' no matter what, gets a Big Foot costume and rents herself out for summertime, outdoor parties for the low price of $100 per night.
Ms. Stone guarantees to scare the daylights out of your guests, but also remarks that the costume is NOT bullet proof and performs in rural locations only. Her goal is to expand her business by next summer and get a 'baby Big Foot' costume and hire a greedy, deranged child. Everyone knows that mother's with babies can get very tempermental.
My library is overflowing with metaphysical books…all of which I’ve read.
I love generous people, and I’m also generous.
Until you spend many years with me, you can’t fathom who I am.
I am single.
My sheets are professionally pressed.
Gifts of healing flow through my hands.
Falling down as a young child and enduring a bad head wound, I became very psychic.
I was adopted as a baby, but my adopted parents kept this a secret from me. I discovered this fact on my own through my psychic gifts which was later confirmed.
Every week I find something to give to someone.
I can smell an agenda or falsity a mile away for I have x-ray vision and sensing.
If someone lies to me, I don’t always call them on their lie. Karma’s a bitch. It catches up with one.
My psychic abilities have been tested by professionals, but I don’t give psychic readings.
Animals gravitate to me as I love them.
I have re-invented myself many times during this lifetime.
This is because I’ve had several near-death experiences which changed me.
My inner child is alive and well and playful.
Though I don’t consume milk products, I make the exception for ice cream cones.
Photography is one of my passions.
Pomposity as displayed by others makes me laugh.
I know enough to ask for help when I need to.
Dancing is much more fun at home with the music turned up.
I am knowledgeable about astrology, numerology, palmistry, dowsing and feng-shui.
If I didn’t live on Maui, I’d live in Ibiza.
I am very good at dealing with invasions of personal space.
I am often called a Muse.
Making people laugh brings me joy.
If I could, I would travel constantly.
I love to capture the essence of a person in portrait photography.
My birth mother was half Cherokee.
Barefoot is how you normally will see me.
If I ever marry again, I will be surprised.
I think our celebrity-obsessed culture is both hilarious and ridiculous. I like to make fun of it.
Mothers that put their children in beauty contests with heavy make-up on freak me out.
Japanese food is my soul-food, and if I start feeling ill, I eat Japanese food, and I immediately feel better.
Great artists, inventors, and humanitarians are whom I admire.
I would like to keep a flat in Paris to visit from time to time.
My best friend is my daughter.
I look a lot younger than my biological age.
De-toxing is something I do daily because of environmental pollution.
My skin has a slight tan. I don’t care for dark tans as they look fake and unhealthy.
Great beauty makes my heart beat faster.
I have met and known many kind people.
Angels are with me all the time.
My non-fiction book about dolphins was published in 1993.
Living in the mountains agrees with me.
When I modeled in my early twenties, I was anorexic.
I love the element of water and love to swim.
People give me mermaid and dolphin gifts a lot.
Collages are something I enjoy creating.
Communing with Nature is necessary for my well-being.
Trust is something you have to earn with me.
Friends tell me I’m a wonderful listener and wise counselor.
I’m a light eater.
A major requirement: I need to be surrounded by beauty.
I prefer quality food, and if I drink, I prefer quality alcohol. Actually, I like the BEST in everything.
Horses, elephants, dogs, dolphins, whales and cats are my favorites.
My goal is to get my MANY blogs to support me. If not all, at least one.
I grew up in a small Indian town in Oklahoma.
The Blog-Blond blog was born out of frustration and the learning curve of blogging innards.
I gained 15 pounds sitting all day & learning how to do html and blog, No more weight gain though. I put a stop to that after I went up a size.
All the details which go into making a GREAT blog drives me just a bit crazy.
Kuanyin isn’t my real name. Duh!
However, I have the greatest of respect for the REAL Kuan Yin.
I take photos every day, and I carry two digital cameras with me everywhere I go.
I have zero desire to be a professional photographer. I’m quite happy being an amateur.
Yes, I live on Maui. Tis true.
I’ve experienced many kinds of love in my life and continue to experience love.
Unconditional love is the best.
I’ve been known to be a bit kinky at times.
I’m working on several books, one of which is a dark humor fiction book based on Maui folk I’ve known.
I love to swing in hammocks.
Watching sunrise and sunset makes me have a happy day.
The world needs to have more balance, more fair-play, and more balanced distribution of the wealth.
We can choose the world in which we live: the mundane, the magical or the miraculous. I prefer the later.
When God handed out mechanical abilities, I was the last person in line.
I am punctual for all appointments and pay my bills on time.
I attract people who are eccentric, different, quirky, odd-ball, rebellious and weird.
Perhaps this is because I am very allowing and non-judgmental.
I like to drive fast cars and boats.
I am an Artisan type according to one of those famous tests.
I prefer silk, bamboo, hemp, cotton and linen fabrics.
World music, ambient, devotional, Celtic, and rhythm and blues music are some of my favorites.
I wanted to move far away from my dysfunctional family, so I married young to do so.
I’ve seen and experienced a lot in my life. It feels as if I’ve already lived multiple lives.
You don’t want to get on my bad side.
I distrust organized religions of all kinds, and thus, I do my own thing and go within.
Candles are a necessity in my life.
It would be easy for me to be a recluse.
My inner life is extremely rich.
I have my fair share of secrets. I don’t trust people who say they don’t have secrets.
I rarely worry.
Sometimes I can be compulsive-obsessive and experience burn-out from my work/passions.
I like a lot of variety.
I can often read other’s minds and thoughts.
I’m lucky.
Yoga and stretching feel great, and I love to stretch and move.
Before there was blogging, I wrote journals. I still write personal journals.
Delicious high-quality goat cheese is one of my power foods.