Duncan Riley at The Blog Herald asks a very good question.

Is link tracking dead?

There was something uniquely satisfying about visiting Technorati or Daypop and checking the links, a not to dissimilar buzz to that checking how many visitors your blog has had. It’s something I still enjoy doing from time to time, although not with the zeal I once had for it.

That was the good old days, when there were a lot less blogs and the duopoly of link trackers, Technorati (general) and Daypop (News) did a really good job.

Fast forward to 2005, and I ponder: is tracking links dead?

Technorati has been having problems, and Pubsub is down.
Daypop, blodex aren’t as popular as they once were, and are way behind with what they are tracking. And both seem to be down a fair bit. Given these sites were set up by keen techers, and provided as a free service, we owe them a debt of thanks, and perhaps the realization that link tracking isn’t doeable. TTLB almost always give the message- Data base being updated, check back later.
It only provides links from it’s system also.

So where to now? Is tracking links dead? I really hope not, for those that will come after us will miss an enjoyable aspect to the blogosphere that really deserves better attention to detail and quality control than it is currently receiving. We can only hope that Technorati and PubSub get their acts together, and shortly.

Even with trackback turned off on this blog, I get trackback spam.
If the MT blacklist isn’t diligently updated, and still off, there will be trackback spam.
And trackback doesn’t work with other blog platforms.
The exteme tracker and server log doesn’t tell me who has linked up.

Why do I want to know?
I don’t check daily, but I try to check once a week just to say hi, thanks, leave a comment or continue the conversation.
With all the technology available, that shouldn’t be too much to ask.
If these services aren’t available it kind of defeats the link in/link out foundation that contributes to good blogging.