Michelle Malkin notes the depressing regularity of having to de-spam trackback pings, as more and more online casinos and p0rn sites insist on loading old blogposts with trackback spam in order to raise their Google scores. I am fighting this daily, because I think TBs are an essential tool of the blogosphere in directing readers to other opinions in the debate. A great example of this is the ongoing discussion over judicial nominations and the filibuster -- I use my own TBs to see how others have reacted to my arguments.

On the other hand, folks, the clean-up has gotten very tiresome. Power Line suspended theirs for a time, although they're trying them out again for a while. I'm throwing this thread open for your feedback. Do you see value in the trackbacks, or am I cleaning up the crap for little reward?

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Diminshing Returns Of Trackback Pings:

» Trackback Pings: Enjoy Them While They Last from Ed Driscoll.com
As Ed Morrissey writes, enjoy trackbacks while they last, because it sounds like spammers' abuse of the trackbacks are killing them for everyone. As I wrote in a comment on Ed's site:A few months ago, I watched my site get... [Read More]

Tracked on April 17, 2005 2:22 PM

» Trackbacks... .. Goodbye! from Epoch3 Blog
One of the neatest tools available to Bloggers is under attack and may soon be an artifact of the past. That is the TrackBack Ping. A Trackback Ping is a blog tool which allows the author of a blog post to link to inform a second blog site that it... [Read More]

Tracked on April 17, 2005 3:24 PM

» Trackback Spam from Don Singleton
Captain's Quarters was hit by TrackBack Spam, as was BatesLine I hope they don't delete TrackBack's because I really like to credit Blogs that I quote. [Read More]

Tracked on April 17, 2005 9:45 PM

» Trackback Spam from bLogicus
Captain Ed and Michelle Malkin have both experienced significant trackback spam leading them to question its value. Coincidentally, earlier today I received over 100 spammer pings that made it past MT-Blacklist and forced me to waste time and effort cl... [Read More]

Tracked on April 18, 2005 1:59 AM

» Trackback Spam from bLogicus
Captain Ed and Michelle Malkin have both experienced significant trackback spam leading them to question its value. Coincidentally, earlier today I received over 100 spammer pings that made it past MT-Blacklist and forced me to waste time and effort cl... [Read More]

Tracked on April 18, 2005 1:59 AM

» The Spam Empire Trackbacks from Blogs for Bush
Captain Ed ponders whether or not trackbacks are worth the bother, considering the rise in trackback spam. I have to say, trackback spam is definitely 150% annoyance, and we've had that problem here at Blogs For Bush. Patrick Ruffini says... [Read More]

Tracked on April 18, 2005 10:50 AM

» Trackbacks from M.A.W.B. Squad
This is blog stuff, so if you don't care, skip to the next post. It appears as part of their site redesign, the Powerline guys have eliminated trackbacks. [Read More]

Tracked on April 18, 2005 11:00 AM

» In Defense Of Trackbacks, Part II. from WILLisms.com
We recently urged bloggers everywhere to keep trackbacks on their sites, even with rising levels of spam. Some of the biggest bloggers are now wondering if trackbacks are worth it. First, for those who have no idea what trackbacks are,... [Read More]

Tracked on April 18, 2005 12:00 PM

» Trackbacks from The House Of Wheels
So as a plea to bloggers - don't cease the trackback pings. They're an essential way of finding new bloggers and reading more into news stories you're interested in. And if you are a blogger, send trackback pings whenever you link to anyone who support... [Read More]

Tracked on April 18, 2005 11:16 PM

» Trackback spam and libertarianism from Half Sigma
Captain’s Quarters, Ed Driscoll, and Epoch3 discuss the problem of trackback spam. Trackback spam is an example of negative sum activity. Sending a spam trackback ping may have a benefit of 1 to the spammer, but a cost of [Read More]

Tracked on April 19, 2005 8:36 PM