Proper trackback etiquette

Dr. Rusty Shackleford along with Lockergnome and James McGovern are tilting against what is becoming one of my favorite windmills; Trackback Etiquette. What are the accepted reasons to trackback? Like I posted over at Jawa, to me it seems simple. There are two reasons to trackback.

(1) If you get inspiration from another, trackback with a written acknowledgement.

(2) If you fold comments/ideas (give proper credit) from another into your post, then you should trackback.

Trackback is a way of saying "Hey, I took your idea an added to it, or, I ref'd your post in mine, just wanted to let you know."

One thing I think is wrong, is something I call "Bastard Trackbacks." I get a few trackbacks to posts that,

(1) Have nothing to do with the trackedback post

(2) Don't mention CDR Salamander in any way.

It seems to me, this is someway to increase the trackbacker's traffic from the trackbackees readers. Bastard trackbacks just leave me scratching my head wondering, "why?" If someone wants to bring their post to my attention on a subject that they think I may find of interest, they should email them to me, not trackback on an unrelated subject.

At James McGovern’s post, I found his concern about,

Many conversations don't occur simply because someone is worried about offending someone when in all reality, it is a missed opportunity for two parties to have a meaningful dialog.

a little funny. Few of my commenters have any problem telling me their opinions, and I like to give as well as I get.

Rusty is right, we should agree on manners and follow them. As for me, I’ll keep deleting bastard trackbacks.

---

My bust. That is Chris Short, not Rusty.