Problem

You want to accept pings related to a weblog category from other TrackBack-enabled publishing tools.

Solution

Use the "Accept incoming TrackBack pings" option on the Edit Category screen.

Discussion

You can use TrackBack for more than just communicating a link on particular entries. TrackBack pings can also be associated with weblog categories.

For example, if you run a site about Perl, you could provide a repository of links to Perl articles and posts on other weblogs. Using TrackBack, you can allow other weblogs to ping that category whenever a pertinent entry is posted.

To set up the category as a repository that can receive pings, look under the Incoming Pings section on the same screen and switch the radio button labeled "Accept Inbound TrackBacks?" to "On."

You can optionally restrict who is allowed to ping the repository by entering a passphrase into the supplied text box. When this is set, any pings to this category must have this pass phrase attached, or the ping will not be accepted. This feature is only meant to provide some simple access control, as the passphrase is transmitted using the URL string and is not considered secure.