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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on June 11, 2007 1:11 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Quick-Start Guide: Getting Started with NYU Blogs.

The next post in this blog is Why NYU Blogs?.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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Comments and Trackbacks: Engaging Your Community

A crucial element of many blogs is the interaction they provide with the community. Blogs at NYU provides functionality for two types of feedback:

  • Comments: Comments are replies by your blog’s readers to the entries that you create. Each entry can be individually configured to accept comments through a comment form typically found on each entry’s individual archive page. The comments are also typically displayed on this page.
  • TrackBack: TrackBack is a protocol used primarily to provide “remote commenting and notification” functionality for weblogs. For example, TrackBack allows a blogger to comment on an entry on their own blog and have an excerpt of the reply and link back to it sent to the original blog via a “TrackBack ping”. Once received, it can be displayed alongside the comments and other TrackBack pings on the original entry to create a distributed conversation. Each entry can be individually configured to accept TrackBack pings and Movable Type can be configured to automatically send pings to blog entries that you reference in your own.

Whether it’s one of your blog readers commenting on an entry which you posted or another blogger doing so on their own site via TrackBack, community feedback is one of the most compelling and interesting facets of blogging because its breaks down the wall between publisher and reader.

Because there’s been a history of comment and trackback spam affecting blogs, the Blogs at NYU service disables them by default for all new blogs.

Enabling Comments

  1. Click the Main Menu link.
  2. Click the Settings link for your blog, listed in the My Weblogs box. This displays the settings screen for your blog. Settings Link
  3. Scroll down the page and find the Comments section. Change the value of Accept comments from to Anyone. Comments Section
  4. We suggest leaving Trusted commenters only as the value for Immediately publish comments from. Read more accepting comments.
  5. Click Save Changes.

Enabling Trackbacks

  1. Click the Main Menu link.
  2. Click the Settings link for your blog, listed in the My Weblogs box. This displays the settings screen for your blog. Settings Link
  3. Scroll down the page and find the Trackbacks section. Select the checkbox alongside *Accept Trackbacks. Trackbacks Section
  4. We suggest leaving the Moderation checkbox selected.
  5. Click Save Changes.

There are also some more advanced options for managing how comments and trackbacks are handled.

  1. From the settings screen for your blog, click Switch to Detailed Settings.
  2. Click the Feedback tab.
  3. More options will be available to you. Click the contextual help buttons ([?]) alongside each setting for more detailed information.

Enabling/Disabling Comments and Trackback for a Specific Entry

Sometimes you may wish to allow or prevent community feedback on a per entry basis, independent of your blog’s default settings.

  1. From an Entry Edit screen, customize your display settings to reveal the Accept Comments and Accept TrackBacks fields.
  2. Toggle the checkboxes for accepting comments and trackbacks. Feedback Toggles

Managing Comments and Trackbacks

Managing Globally for All Entries

You can review all comments and trackbacks left on your blog entries at once by selecting the Comments option or the Trackbacks option under the Community section in the left-hand menu.

Regular Comments and Trackbacks

  1. To view the comment or trackback, click on its link.
  2. Use the checkbox at the top to select all comments or trackbacks.
  3. Choose an action (Publish, Delete, Junk) by clicking the appropriate button.
  4. For comments, you may select other actions by viewing the drop-down menu that, by default, says More actions….
  5. Once you’ve chosen an action, click the Go button.

Junk Comments and Trackbacks

To view all Junk Comments and Trackbacks (those classified by the blog server as having attributes characteristic of spam), select the Junk Comments or Junk Trackbacks tab.

  1. To view the comment or trackback, click on its link.
  2. Use the checkbox at the top to select all comments or trackbacks.
  3. Choose an action (Delete, Not Junk) by clicking the appropriate button.
  4. For comments, you may select other actions by viewing the drop-down menu that, by default, says More actions….
  5. Once you’ve chosen an action, click the Go button.

Managing Per Entry

If you wish to review comments or trackbacks for a single entry, do the following:

  1. Under the left-hand menu section called Posting, select the Entries option.
  2. Select the entry for which you wish to review comments or trackbacks.
  3. If you’ve enabled comments and/or trackbacks for the particular entry, you will see the associated tabs.
  4. Select the appropriate tab (Comments or Trackback).
  5. To view the comment or trackback, click on its link.
  6. From within this screen, you can change the status of the comment or trackback, or return to the main entry comment/trackback screen and use the checkbox at the top to select all comments or trackbacks.
  7. Choose an action (Publish, Delete, Not Junk) by clicking the appropriate button.
  8. For comments, you may select other actions by viewing the drop-down menu that, by default, says More actions….
  9. Once you’ve chosen an action, click the Go button.

Posted by Amit Snyderman on June 11, 2007 1:11 PM |