Scout's Paw Tracks

Monday, March 12, 2007

What is a track back?

If you look at many of the stories and information posted on the website you will notice several things at the bottom of each entry.  Some questions arised as to what each one means.  So I thought I would provide a breif description here.

The first item if I do not forget to add the information to one of them one is a CATEGORY.  This is simply an easy way to group related stories.  Information about Blade is in the German Shorthair Pointer category and the sub category of Blade.  Information about Scout is listed in the German Shorthair Pointer category and the sub category of Scout.  Should I add any additional dogs I can sub categorize them as needed.

On the right side near the bottom you will see a list of categories and the sub categories.  If you select a category it will only display the information or stories for that category.  You can also view them by month.

The next item is COMMENTS in the list of options.  Comments are just that if you want to add a comment to a story, share additional information, make a correction ask a question this is the place it can be done.  Anyone that is a member of the site can add comments and becoming a member is free you just need a valid e-mail address.  I do this so not just anyone comes on to the site and make comments.  Regretfully we had to do this since “Surf Trolls” as they are occassionally refered to in the Internet world would come along and add inflamatory comments simply to create trouble.  Requiring a person to create an account on the site has eliminated that issue.  I also do not allow a person to create an account under the age of 18 with out parental consent.  The site follows child on-line privacy guidelies as set forth by COPPA.  Meaning in part that adults can chose to have a public or private profile.  Those under 18 are not given the option they are all private by default.

The final item is probably the most confusing it is the TRACKBACK - PERMALINK option.  This is for websites that find a story on the site they wish to include in their own website.  Rather than having to ask me for permission to reprint the story they can include the trackback link on thier website and it will appear there.  Typically we will provide the source for any information provided on the site and we ask that anyone that pulls information from our site to do the same.  This feature allows that to happen with the least amount of hassle.