Making Tracks

I think I’m finally starting to understand Movable Type’s TrackBack system. It took a while, because every time I thought about it, it made my head hurt. What finally helped me understand it is this tutorial on putting a TrackBack system in your homemade weblog. I suppose this is a feature News Goat will have someday.

Lately, I’ve been considering not only replacing OKMensa with Movable Type, but News Goat as well. It has such great features, and someone has already done the work for me. So, I had to ask myself, what is the real focus of News Goat — the writing, or the software?

Much to my surprise, I decided it was both. I like writing — it’s a way to get all those strange thoughts out of my head. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I like checking my stats and seeing that I’m not the only one who visits this site. I’m just that vain. But, I think I would get bored with the whole thing if all I did on this site was write.

Because I also like programming. I like tweaking things here and there to make the whole thing better. And the only way I’m going to move up from an average programmer to a slightly above average programmer is to practice. In the past, I’ve tried giving myself programming projects, but I always got bored with them. This project, though, has been different, and I don’t know why. Maybe because the better News Goat is, the more it encourages me to write. And the more I write, the more ideas I get to make News Goat better. It’s a vicious cycle. :-)

So, I’m going to keep plugging away at News Goat for as long as it’s fun. If it stops being fun, I can always switch then. By that point, you’ll probably be able to just think at Movable Type, and it will update your blog. I’m sure Perl has a module for that. :-)