Pls help a pingback virgin

[Shepherd Jim]

Okay, sorry in advance as I know this real newbie stuff. I've tried researching the subject in the WP Codex, etc. but haven't found any/where/one that sums things up to the point where a simple-minded guy like me REALLY understands what's going on.

This morning's "inbox" contained a message saying that "A new pingback on the post #1171 "Nøsting" is waiting for your approval".

1) The first possible problem I see is that "post #1171" is a static page, not a post. IF I do approve the pingback will it appear in any way on the page? -- there's no "comment area" as there would be if this were a blogpost.

2) So, I went to the WP.com blog that sent the pingbackand see that it's all in Spanish. I took Spanish in HS so am able to figure out that the text linking to my page is just "this page" -- not naming our site in any manner.

3) Finally, while the pinging blog author does not necessarily say anything negative about me or my products, the discussion suggests that what's recommended on my site is expensive and unnecessary.

So! As long as the link back doesn't appear on our page, is there any BENEFIT TO ME in approving such a pingback? I guess if I trash the pingback the link from the other site will remain -- a link to me is a good SEO thing, right?

Should I just go ahead and disable comments, pingbacks and trackbacks on all our site's static pages?

Looking for the bottom line, Jim

[Otto]

IF I do approve the pingback will it appear in any way on the page? -- there's no "comment area" as there would be if this were a blogpost.

No.

So! As long as the link back doesn't appear on our page, is there any BENEFIT TO ME in approving such a pingback?

No.

Should I just go ahead and disable comments, pingbacks and trackbacks on all our site's static pages?

If you're not displaying comments and such on them, then yes, there's no reason to leave them enabled.

[Shepherd Jim]

No.

No.

If you're not displaying comments and such on them, then yes, there's no reason to leave them enabled.

Hey Otto! Thanks for your comeback!

I guess the option whether or not to allow pingbacks and trackbacks on static pages is really just a holdover from the days before before pages.

[chipbennett]

Hey Otto! Thanks for your comeback!

I guess the option whether or not to allow pingbacks and trackbacks on static pages is really just a holdover from the days before before pages.

I allow comments and pingbacks on select pages (e.g. on my plugin pages), but definitely not on all (or even most) pages.

Note: if you want to display comments on your pages, you can. You just need to edit your theme template file page.php (or whichever is the template file for a given page, which you can discern from the Edit Page screen, in the right-hand column).

[Otto]

Yes, Pages can have comments displayed just fine, if you want. Just add the call to comments_template(); to the page.php file.