TEST: WordPress Political Bloggers, Please Respond
October 26, 2007
As in2thefray recently suggested, I think it’s time to try to use the WP Political Blogger Alliance more interactively. One idea would be a situation where I would occasionally post something that’s been in the news, send a pingback to the group, and gather opinions and input here. I think it would be interesting and informative, since I’ve gathered a pretty diverse list.
The first thing I need to do is to make sure that I can use pingbacks to “alert” all of you to a new post. Hopefully, it’s as simple as including everyones link:
Assuming that works, (and I’ll probably look at making that more condensed visually), then all I have to do is get an idea as to a) who checks their sites regularly, and b) who thinks this is a good idea and who doesn’t, so please respond and give your input on this one way or another.
Also, there is no rule that says that I’m the one who has to initiate this. Any one of you are certainly welcome to use the list to call us out if you have something to post as well. It was kinda the idea all along with this; to form a bit of an informal network. So, what I might want to do is post a code that contains a condensed version of everyone’s urls so it can be posted at the end of a thread and not take up so much space, (in fact, urls with a series of periods or something would be almost invisible, save perhaps the button icon or something as an identifier), but first thing’s first.
What do ya think?
Update:
I just got a response from Psycheout that this might not have worked like I had hoped. I suppose I should have known better, as WP will alert us to pingbacks to specific posts on the main dashboard page (almost instantly), but not when it’s simply the blog url. Darn. That might call for plan B: ping targets. In other words, instead of the urls above, I would have to use the url to a specific post (or page) for each member of the alliance for it to show up in your dashboards. So….
Best option: Everyone who wants to be a part of this would have to make a specific post (a page would probably be better) specifically for being pinged, and give me the url. It wouldn’t even have to contain much (if any) text, just make sure that your “allow pings” box is checked for that page. It would work pretty slick, actually, as it would contain a neat chronological record of all the threads that have been featured. The title of the page could be anything, really, but perhaps for consistency we’d title it “WP Political Blogger Alliance” <—like so
Second-best option: I just find some old post to use. This would be less-than desirable, obviously, because I would be a pinging a post/page that is completely off-topic, but it would still work in terms of showing up as a “pingback” in the dashboard. Initially, this is what I might have to do just alert you to this thread, but from then on we could use the first method once everyone has their pages ready.
Update: OK, since we already have a handful of pingback pages made, I’m going to go ahead and propose and idea on how the code will look at the bottom of a post:
WordPress Political Blogger Alliance
As you can see, one link for every letter would provide for a lot of bloggers to be included in this (33 total, if I counted correctly). Also, if you want, you could make it really small:
WordPress Political Blogger Alliance
Or, I could use something even smaller and more cryptic, like a bunch of periods (…..) and add them as we go, but I’d like to think that it’s better to advertise a little. I’d welcome input on this. Either way, I could use this thread to update the code as we add more participants. In fact, it might be a good idea to bookmark this page, so all you have to do is copy the current code and paste it at the bottom of your post (in “visual” mode; probably easiest). Boom! Everyone gets alerted by a pingback to their ping page and it will show up in your dashboard (as well as your “recent comments” in your sidebar, I imagine).
The added bonus here is that curious visitors might be compelled to click on some of those links, which would result in gaining attention to the alliance and possibly more recruits that we might not have found otherwise. But remember, our club is exclusively for wordpress.com users!
Update: We have 11 ping pages so far. Not too shabby for 24hrs. I think we can get all the letters in the code filled (again, we can always add more). Another thing I might do tomorrow is post a sample thread using the code we have, just to give everyone a better idea of what I have in mind.
ChenZhen's Chamber 
If I understand what you’re trying to do, it won’t work this way. “Pings” are essentially comments automatically sent to an external blog post. Simply including the domain name of a blog doesn’t send a ping. There’s nowhere for the comment to go.
What you might be able to do is suggest that WordPress bloggers make a new page for this purpose and you could ping that. There is the possibility that this page (WPB or something) could be saved as a draft or as private. I don’t know about that for sure though.
Comment spam has even made it to pages for images at B4B. I’m not sure how they found them and I can’t remember what the url looked like. I only get those on occasion. Actually I usually just delete the torrent of spam without checking where the links are going. It might be possible to ping an image that isn’t even displayed. Who knows?
I did send a trackback to another site accidentally when I published a post prematurely the other day. Even though I had set the status back to draft, following the trackback link opened the draft page! I thought those were private.
I don’t know if this helps or not. I haven’t actually bothered to read the WordPress docs.
Thanks Psycheout, you read my mind (see update)!
This post showed up in my “Incoming Links,” but WordPress is not always reliable in keeping up with them. I’ve had links show up a week or more after they were posted.
Yea the “incoming links” on the stats page seems to be a bit erratic (some of those links have been there a long time, and the list will grow and shrink without much rhyme or reason to it), where the pingbacks on the main dashboard are on there within a few min. pretty consistently, and are chronological.
Plus, it’s nice to have it show up on the dashboard because its the first thing you see when you login.
Got it! Thanks for your hard work on this.
Got it pretty quickly for WordPress. As someone noted, sometimes it takes a week or more for it to appear.
You pinged me beautifully, dear.
And, you have done a fine job of this. Very impressive.
Hi ChenZhen,
I got this through my ‘incoming links’ section. First time I’ve heard of this Political Bloggers’ Alliance, so can I just check that I’ve got it straight?
We set up a separate page called ‘WP Political Blogger Alliance’.
Then what?
This is a great idea. I’ll try adding a special page. Just tell me what to do.
You all know me, am blunt, does not write what is politically popular. If you want me to include in your alliance than sure go ahead.
All you guys have to do is make a ping page (like mine), and post the link in here.
Once I’ve gathered everyones, I’ll make a code that is easy to copy/paste into posts. Sound good?
ok, here ’tis!
I am not sure of the best way to do this but I think it is a great idea. I look forward to the debates. Whatever way the group wants to do this, I’m in!
[thanks for adding your page– CZ]
I have mastered turning the computer on, so I will attempt this as well. Still learning all this ‘stuff’ …
BAC
I would like to be involved, but am quite… a busy person.
One debate each week or something?
thanks jamieSW
qb- Blunt is fine. Disrespectful is another thing. I’ve been fairly careful compiling this list in this regard. I guess we won’t know for sure till we try.
mvdg- That’s the beauty of this. We can use it as often as we like. The only rule, I suppose, is that the thread have a “politics” tag. No set schedule is really neccessary, and there’s nothing that says you have to respond.
I look at this as a way to liven up a blogs a bit with more interaction, and would be mutually beneficial by resulting in more page views, too.
But, again, the only way to avoid confusion is for everyone to create a pingback page and post the link in here. Otherwise, you won’t be able to discern which “incoming links” are from the alliance. That’s step 1.
Alright I’ll try.
Here’s mine
Giving you mine. Get out of it, when it become annoying.
QB-Page
Now we’re talkin!
I can usually be relied upon to mess up code in a comment box so pardon the possible double up.
WP PAP
[Fixed it for ya- CZ]
Should work as long as WordPress is cooperating.
This morning I had the usual Saturday morning adventure with them, as posts didn’t appear and comments vanished into the ether, with no technical support to address the problem.
It appears, things are working again, so let’s strike while the iron is hot and WordPress is operational.
Howdy, here’s Absolute Moral Authority
Wow! I just took another look at our list of bloggers here, and I gotta say, I’m pretty excited. I mean, I think I’ve got the entire political spectrum represented. Should be interesting, needless to say. I hope we can all get along.
Anyway, check the update! And keep those pingback pages coming!
Hey Chen!
I got it! 🙂
hey chenzen!
i am so stoopid when it come to technical things, and the brains of the operation over at hysterical raisins is unavailable for a while. therefore, you may continue to use whatever means to create a pingback, and when the brains of the operation returns, he will set things up properly.
Re: pages
When in doubt, check the WordPress.com FAQ on pages. FYI, from the FAQ…
For the record, it is not neccessary for the page to show up anywhere on your main blog for this thing to work. In other words, if you don’t want the pingback page to show up alongside your other pages, you can hide it. Just follow directions in the FAQ. However, I suppose it’s nice to have it right there if visitors wnat to check out what’s going on in the alliance. So, for those bloggers who use a theme like this, it’s up to you. Personally, I don’t use this type of theme, and my pages are hidden anyway. I might decide to put the link to my pingback page in my sidebar once we get rolling with this though.
Also, don’t be afraid to email me via my contact form if you need any help or have questions.
Oh nice. Yeah, let me look into this a bit more here when I’m feeling more rested tomorrow!
[Ned added his here, thanks!- CZ]
Ok, I got the page up with the link, can I get a ping?
http://edgruberman.wordpress.com/my-clan/
Sensi… I have received your ping… Thank you, my skills are at your service! Snap Crack Wooosh… Ti Kwan Leap!
There ya go Ed!
/That’s 9.
Count me in!
Very cool
I’m really psyched about this! Here’s my pingpage: http://wp01.wordpress.com/alliance/
I’m in, here is my page.
Political Blogger Alliance
Stopping in to say hello. It’s my birthday and I’m already ripped. Talk to you Monday.
Thanks! I’ve added a couple more.
Miche- Happy Birthday!
got the ping, no problemo
Pingback successful!
well, instead of waiting for the brains of the operation to reappear, i winged it. is this what i was supposed to do?
nonnie9999-
Perfect!
…and with Ned’s, that’s 13. We’re getting close to the point where I’ll post a sample thread to try the code out.
hmmmm…
I put up a new thread last night with the code, and I gotta say that I’m a little dissappointed. There are still a few people who have yet to get the ping. This is kinda weird. I mean, the ping showed up in my stats almost instantly, while it seems to be taking hours for others. I was hoping that these things would work a heck of a lot faster than that.
Gosh, I hope this is what you’re looking for. thanks, NC
[…] So you might be wondering what that WP Political Blogger Alliance link is about November 1st, 2007 — Ned Raggett And you’re not to be blamed. A few days back Chen Zhen contacted a variety of politically-minded WordPress bloggers about an idea he had — you can read the full details here. […]
http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/wp-political-blogger-alliance/
here ya go
http://arclightzero.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/wp-political-blogger-alliance/
Cool! We are getting a pretty good group here. Maybe a few more liberals? wink wink
Anyway, here is the latest code:
WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance
FYI- I am keeping the latest version in my sidebar, so it is convenient to just copy and paste into your post. (Also, you can always remove the “center” and “font” tags if you wish.)
I know I’m coming in a bit late but I think this is a great idea and I’d love to contribute.
Oh, sorry – and
http://virtualbourgeois.wordpress.com/wp-political-bloggers-alliance-page/
er….i went and moved. sorry if i forgot to tell you. i’m at http://www.otherwhirled.com now.
my pingback page is http://www.otherwhirled.com/wppb/
for some odd reason, i hit the blog stats for my old wordpress-hosted site and stumbled upon your original pingy. otherwise, i’d have never known!
any of you who have been so kind as to blogroll me, please change your link accordingly! thanks!
Late to the party but I’ve got my page up here so go ahead and ping me.
Better late than never lol, you’re in! Code updated.
This sounds good, but I just got up and there’s too much blood in my caffeine stream to think properly now. I’ll check it out later and set up the appropriate page etc.
Not sure how to do this, but I’m game. I’ve had the WP Political button on my site for a while.
I like the idea of what’s going on here, but I’m a little bit confused as to how to approach it. I created a page (http://thetexasstudent.wordpress.com/wp-political-blogger-aliance/) that allows pings. Ok, now what?
TTS-
Hi!
For the time being, make sure you use the “wordpress political blogs” category when tagging your politically-themed posts.
I’ll have to add your page to the code later, but here’s the how-to for using the ping code.