WordPress MU

Hello, I'm posting up to 4 posts in a row to a wpmu blog so I'd like to disable pining and instead replace it with a ruby script do one ping.

What is the appropriate way to disable pings to pingomatic?

I see I can set Privacy options to:
--- I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors
That reads as if it will block search engines in some way. But posts here say that it relates to pings. I want search engines to be able to index the site.

Or I could change the blog admin options to :
---Default Ping Status: closed
I'm thinking that is related to trackbacks?

Or I could remove pingomatic.com from Ping Sites, but in that case will a null work?

Please could someone let me know which is the appropriate setting to just disable outgoing pings?

As logged in as a Site Admin: Dashboard -> Site Admin -> Blogs -> Find yours and edit it. There's an option for the URL of the service that you want to use. Just empty out the selection and click on save.

Thank you

Not a problem. :)

Just for reference you can change this as an default for new blogs created as well if you need that as well. Open up wp-admin/upgrade-schema.php and look through the file to where it's set.

I hate to dig up an old thread, but it seems that doing what Dr Mike says--going into Site Admin->Blogs->Edit and deleting the "ping sites" option--doesn't work. If I delete and click "Update Options," the pingomatic re-appears. It just won't let me blank that field.

Is there something else I need to do to disable pinging? I don't want to use the "options-privacy" thing because I want the blog to show up around the site. I just want to stop the pinging.

And I'm pretty sure that there is pinging going on. The blog uses robots.txt to keep all robots out, and yet I've recently discovered that Technorati is aware of even the most recent posts, which no other site has linked to. That must result from pinging.

Actually I for one would rather people reopen threads instead of starting new ones. Shows that they're actually trying to solve their own issues by searching and reviewing the forums instead of assuming that everything is going to be handed to them.

The only other option is to remove the url out of that database record for that specific blog. It's within the wp_#_option table although I forget the name of it. That might not work as if wpmu is replacing it as you note up above, it may also be doing that if an empty record is found.

Best bet would be to call it a bug and bring it up on trac. Be sure to mention what specific version of wpmu you're using.

edit: Either that or throw in a bogus url (ie use a truly bogus url like domain.tld instead of a real one) in there and see if the system will take that and ping into a black hole.

Thanks Dr Mike.

For future searchers, the option_name that you are looking for is ping_sites.

Would deleting the file wp-trackback.php work? I'm doing a school network of blogs, and I don't need trackback or pingback. When I worked with WP 1.x years ago (a single blog, natch), someone told me to delete that file as the big hammer to stop all spam, and it worked. Would it do the same for all blogs created on MU after the file deletion? Any untoward side effects?

PeterStephens, I know you've made up your mind, but . . . with proper spam management with plugins, I'd recommend a second thought to disabling trackback. I can't do without it.

I depend on student bloggers to trackback their assigned posts to my assignment post via trackback. Very efficient method of "handing in". My "you've got mail" boing announces the arrival of trackbacks from students in my email inbox. I find it cool. I can post an assignment after school, students can complete their response, I can read and reply to it, all before I've actually assigned it to the class properly the next day. Very keen feature for keeners like me. The trackbacks list under my post and add a competitive feel as each track is datestamped on arrival. Searching for (un)finished posts by students starts by following their trackback link. Anyway, . ..

I find trackback a very useful and purposeful feature in my blog domain.

Trackback spam can be fought with plugins. Have bloggers make sure all comments go to moderation first. 100- active bloggers, 10-150 trackbacks per week. In over a year, I've seen less than a handful of spammer trackbacks.