John Gruber writes an excellent article on the Trackback system and why a system of referrals (in place at his site) or a centrally located link collector like Technorati is a better solution. I don’t use any of the methods listed above. Usually when I respond to something that a person has written, I find the easiest, lo-tech method to be a quick e-mail letting them know.

One problem with the referral system (assuming that it was used everywhere): when Contact Sheet refers to Daring Fireball’s Trackback article (as done so above), Contact Sheet will show up in Daring Fireball’s referral logs. So then a Daring Fireball visitor clicks on the reference to Contact Sheet, and now Daring Fireball has referred back to Contact Sheet when making no mention of the site (other than simply appearing in the referral logs).

Another: it’s time-sensitive. Since the original referral from Contact Sheet likely came from my home page (and not the permalink), you will click on Daring Fireball’s referral to Contact Sheet and see no mention of it if you arrive after it’s scrolled off the home page.

There is a lot of cross-fire and extra noise without any context or control.

Technorati is great, but as John mentions, it’s centrally located and I rarely go to the trouble of typing in an article’s URL to see its reach. Someday I may employ a method of referrals out of interest, with the noted limitations.

In the meantime, I will continue to write e-mails when I mention you here.