Trackback vs Pingback

2002-09-29T13:09:31Z

I write this with my simple blosxom hacker hat on. I have not been involved in the creation of either trackback or pingback, but I have taken a look at both specifications and have implemented some basic functionallity for each. Here's what I have found:

Automating *back (either one) requires harvesting links from your blog
Automating *back requires retrieving the target pages
Trackback records metadata in only one type of format. Parsers must look for the two different formats in which pingback metadata information is recorded.
Trackback allows one to record metadata for multiple blog entries in a single web page. Pingback only allows you to record one. The compensating advantage that this provides to pingback is that it allows you to have pingbacks for non-textual formats.
Trackback pings have title and excerpt information. Pingback's lack of this information, coupled with the support for non-textual information reduces most pingbacks to simple (e.g., [1 2 3]) displays. Compare the differences for yourself with the two links above.
Trackbacks are done with HTTP GET or POST. Pingbacks are done with XML RPC. I was able to integrate the former directly into blosxom. The latter will likely require a separate package to be installed.

Overall, I'm not sure that I find the compromises required to support binary data formats compelling enough to justify the compromises made.