I have a confession to make. In spite of having blogged for a very long time now, I really don't get trackbacks. I have read the explanations at least a couple of times, but I continue to search for an understanding of exactly which problem they solve. I know they somehow allow a post to know about other posts that reference them, but I don't know how the connection happens. For example, if I put this trackback URL in my post here: http://mingwei.co.uk/cms/trackback/12 how does my mingwei page know that I've done such a thing. Do I have to click through on the link and depend on the referrer field being filled in correctly?
I feel daunted by technology. I don't really spend enough time with anything these days to feel I have a full grasp of it. I can remember many moons ago that I spent a lot of time reading books on Statistical Mechanics. I am not sure I ever got a full understanding of that. Almost certainly not. But I did feel that such an understanding was in my grasp, in principle. Now even something as mundane as the technology of the WWW seems beyond me.
I feel old.
