One can’t think of everything, and the creator of the pingback thing certainly didn’t. I noticed it first with this Lorelle’s post. Then, a few days ago, I received a pingback from another blog, with the same unusual set of characteristics.
It’s a valid pingback but the post is in the future. The Undiscovered Country. What makes?
Well, it’s simple, mcFly: The pingback thing sends a ping when the post is published, if the release date is set into the future, doesn’t matter, the ping will be sent during the publishing process, not during the first public release.
It explains a few well-crafted answers I’ve seen around, based on the excerpt and the title the author writes a counter-post and publishes it as soon as the original post is published. It’s a wild guess, but works most of the time. I did it myself once or twice.
The problem is: It’s Inside Information. You’re reading things you’re not supposed to read for a few hours, even days.
An evil blogger can tip some evil friend or use an evil nom-de-blog and write a post about the same subject, publish it before the original blog and claim plagiarism.
Sounds mean? I’ve seen worse.
Well, I’m from the future (Aug twenty-sixth, you Aug twenty-fourther) and we have technology to blow your pingback technology away. We’re 8 years from a flying car! And two days closer to that than you, buddy.
I did want to mention that this is an implementation issue. There might be software out there that sends the ping at the moment of publishing. Maybe new versions of wordpress will do that.
Comment by dan — August 26, 2006 @ 1:08 am
You are right on and right off on this. Wordpress.com has been having trouble with future posts, which in turn impacts trackback timing. Once this is fixed, trackbacks will release when published. It’s an on and off thing and really frustrating.
As for evil plagiarism, most trackbacks are only about 120 words, so unless that is the total sum of the article, the odds of getting all of it to steal is slim. But then, it’s still possible. Just stay away from evil temptation.
Comment by Lorelle — August 26, 2006 @ 10:13 am