OK, so some of you may have already read this post, but A-list blogger (not a self imposed title I might add, but according to this post, he does fit the bill) Jason Calacanis has posted a blog post about how he wants to be linked to in return for a link back to you. If you do not know who he is, I am not sure where you have been living these days. Hailing from Brooklyn, he was the founder of the Silicon Alley Reporter, moved on to start Weblogs, and subsequently sold it to AOL (which is where our distant paths crossed, being that we both were in the Bankoff org.) then moved on to revamp Netscape and then quickly exited shortly thereafter for greener pastures.

Anyways, he outlines 9 sure fire ways to get a link back from him, so I thought I would test the waters, much like the rest of these bloggers did. Let’s see if the experiment works, what is the worst thing that could happen, right?

a) I think I pretty much covered this one in the first paragraph, but if I did not, and he does link back to me, perhaps he can correct any misstatements I made

b) I do read his blog on a very regular basis, and do enjoy it quite a bit, have not seen his podcast, have not heard him speak on any panels (although I was in a teleconference once with him while he was in NYC with Bankoff and I was in Dulles, but I digress), but I have had the fortune of sitting next to his sister-in-law at SxSW for the Matt Mullenweg presentation, she was really nice by the way.

c) Never one to shy away from controversy, he has on occasion shown his more personal side, like this post outlining 5 things most people do not know about him. My favorite, he was in the movie Center of the World as Pete, but under a slightly different stage name, I guess everyone in Hollywood has a stage name.

d) I do not want to slam anyone that he has a beef with, I do not think I am in any position to draw controversy to my blog, I am just a little fish in this big sea.

e) He has been quoted many times, in many places, but I like to dig through the details and find something he said on someone else’s blog. For that, I dug up a post by Kevin that he posted right after Jason announced he was leaving. It made for some healthy debate, it would have been good if this happened before he left. So here is the quote “I did the best I could for the company, and although it seems like I’m always trying to get press I can tell you that I’m not. I’ve got enough press for one (or two) lifetimes.”

f) Is this skinny (and young) enough?

g) Have not hung out with him in person, but the one time I was in a teleconference with him, he came across as well put together and knowing his stuff, at the same time a bit ADD, made for an interesting meeting.

h) I am going to stay away from flaming him, I would be like a match, he would be like a flamer thrower back.

i) If only I could be as active as him on Twitter, I might actually one day have as many friends as him

There, I did it, I followed every rule, to the letter of the law (as outlined by the judge himself). All totaled, I have 10 direct links to him and 4 indirect links to him. If this does not get me at least a mention in this post and a link back, then this experiment was all for not (now make that 11 direct links)