Interesting issue for Typepad users came up out of a comment to an old post about comments and trackbacks and a subsequent email from one of my more recent completed projects... I think its worth sharing here.
My client, Joanna, had explained to me that she hadn't been able to work out how to leave her URL behind when she commented on other Typepad blogs. I couldn't work out where the confusion was, because at the time, I couldn't see how you could fail - there are only 4 fields to fill out in Typepad... (click on picture left to see what they are).
Now I'd like to say that I cracked it, but I didn't. It was Joanna who did that (well she is a wizard after all!) Anyway, you will notice if you click on the picture to enlarge it, that the first sentence under the Post a Comment title there is "If you have a Typekey or Typepad account, please Sign In."
Well, that's fine - you can. But you will get a slightly different outcome... If you sign in, then your name automatically links to your Typekey profile page - which may or may not be complete or appropriate or ideal etc. You can see what I'm talking about by looking at the conversation on this post here: http://claireraikes.blogs.com/bizblogangel/2007/03/business_blog_a.html#comments . If you let your mouse hover over the names of the commentors, you will see exactly where they are pointed. Amanda's and Joanna's link back to their sites, Emma's links back to her Typekey profile (which is empty).
I simply hadn't registered that that would happen as I only ever sign in to comment if the blog I'm commenting on requires it. Otherwise, I do it as you can see from the graphic - and ticking that little box (remember my details) means I don't have to type in my details each time. Notice too, that I use my brand alias in quotes in the middle of my name. You will also see that my email address is there. That is optional and where you give a URL, the email addy won't be displayed. I think that if I were to omit the URL, the email addy would show up behind my name on the published comment - not entirely sure on that as I've never done it. If you know, then do share here. :o)
