Blog Updates

First, a heads-up: I've switched this blog's RSS feed over to FeedBurner, so please point your RSS reader to the new URL, http://feeds.feedburner.com/TenserSaidTheTensor.  To encourage you to do so, I've changed the old RSS feeds to contain only an excerpt of each post, but don't worry, the new feed contains the full text as before.

I've also made a few other tweaks to the blog.  Most importantly, I've removed the little "Trackbacks (N)" link that used to appear below each post in the hopes of stemming the tide of trackback spam.  I haven't abandoned trackbacks, though—they still appear on each individual-post page just before the comments.  To replace the trackbacks link, I've added two new ways to find out who's linking to each post: a link to Google Blog Search and a link to Technorati.  Google Blog Search checks blogs very often, so it gives you an up-to-the-minute idea of who is linking to a post; however, it seems not to have some older links (maybe because it's based on RSS feeds, which typically don't contain old posts).  Technorati, on the other hand, seems to have a more complete list of links, even the older ones; unfortunately, it takes a long time to update.  If anyone knows of another blog search engine I ought to add, please let me know—I'll probably add Windows Live eventually, for example, but their feed search doesn't seem to be working yet.  For a good time, check out the HTML and CSS gymnastics it took to make the little Google and Technorati icons look how I wanted—it took some doing.

You also may have noticed that I've updated the banner.  Gone is the boring purple bar, replaced by a thrilling purple image.  Try not to pass out from the excitement.  If I get organized (and I can make Javascript jump through the necessary hoops) I'll cobble together a few more banner images and have a randomly-selected one appear each time you reload the page.

Because that would be cool...

Comments

[EFL Geek]

What prompted the change to feedburner? I've got feedburner feeds set up but haven't promoted them and ony have 2 subscribers via those, but significantly more with my regular feeds.

I am very thrilled with the new purple banner and if it was random I'm sure I might even pass out from being overly thrilled.

[Tim May]

Any particular reason you're encouraging us to switch manually rather than putting a redirect in the old feed, Tensor?

[Steve]

I use a referer.org widget in my blog template to tell who's linking to me.

[The Tensor]

What prompted the change to feedburner?

I wanted to be able to tell how many people were reading via RSS—so I guess my answer is "vanity".

Any particular reason you're encouraging us to switch manually rather than putting a redirect in the old feed, Tensor?

Um, that would be because I didn't know you could do that. Know where I can read up on how to do it?

I use a referer.org widget in my blog template to tell who's linking to me.

I get referrer information from Site Meter, but that only tells you who has followed a link to your site. Sometimes other bloggers mention you in a post, but nobody follows the link. In that case, you'd never see a referrer.

[EFL Geek]

Tensor,
Sometimes other bloggers mention you in a post, but nobody follows the link. In that case, you'd never see a referrer.
If you are logged in to technocrati you can do a search of links to your blog and then save it as a watchlist. Then subscribe to the watchlist and whenever a new blog links to you, you will know - I've done that for both of my blogs and it's very helpful.

[The Tensor]

Well, yes. That's why I was plugging Technorati and Google Blog Search in this post. :)

[Steve]

Good point about the non-follows.

How about http://wholinkstome.com/

[The Tensor]

It looks like wholinkstome.com only works with whole sites, not individual pages. If I give it, for example, the URL of the Fencing Etymologies post, it gives me back the results for tenser.typepad.com.

Hmm, Icerocket looks sort of promising, though. It returns mostly, but not exactly, the same results as Google Blog Search.

[Tim May]

re: RSS redirects
I've never administered an RSS feed myself, so I don't really know the specifics. But I've been subscribed to enough of them to know it's possible. Searching for «rss redirect» returns this, which looks like it might be the answer.