What are comments and trackbacks and how can I control them in my blog?
A comment is a reply or feedback that a reader can leave in response to an individual entry in your blog. When reading your blog, readers click the Comment button next to an entry to leave a reply or feedback for that entry. You can then write a comment in response to a readers comment, therefore creating a dialog between you and your readers.
A trackback is a link from an entry in another blog or Web site to an entry in your blog. When reading your blog, readers can create a trackback (or link) to the individual entry in your blog from their blog or Web site. The trackback sends a ping from the originating site to your blog, to notify it that a link was created.
If you choose to, you can disallow comments and trackbacks in your blog. Otherwise, readers can leave comments regarding individual entries in your blog and can create trackbacks to entries in your blog.
If you opt to allow comments and trackbacks to your blog, the Manage Comments page lists all of the comments for each entry in your blog and the Manage Trackbacks page lists all of the trackbacks for all entries in your blog.
From the Manage Comments page you can reply to, view, approve, or delete comments, ban IP addresses, or mark comments as SPAM. From the Manage Trackbacks page you can view, approve, edit, or delete trackbacks, ban IP addresses, or mark trackbacks as SPAM. Banning an IP address prevents people who are accessing your blog from that IP address from writing comments or creating trackbacks, respectively.
New comments and trackbacks are not automatically published to your blog. New comments or trackbacks made by others have a status of Pending Approval until you either approve them or mark them as SPAM. Comments that you author or trackbacks that you create have a status of Draft until you approve them.
