Love him or hate him, controversial blog-boss Jason Calacanis knows his linkbait. Brooklyn-born Calacanis, formerly the editor of the Silicon Alley Reporter, made a “how-to linkbait me” post on his popular blog, which he writes with his trusty bulldog Toro by his side. (Jason is more recently known for being the impetus behind the relaunch of Netscape.com, which according to some traffic metrics, is now the most popular social bookmarking site on the Web. Kudos to you, Calacanis!)

Of course, I can’t mention Jason’s blog without linking to this great post from early 2005 where he outlines a typical conversation with a VC regarding the Weblogs, Inc. business. Classic Calacanis! This recent posts detailing what’s wrong with PayPerPost is a great read too – his observations are spot-on. Deception never works as a business model. (Or as Jason says, “The fact is no one in the world–NO ONE–wants to be covertly marketed to.”)

I remember back in the Silicon Alley days (or the SA days, as we liked to call it), when J-Dawg, Keepsie, and I would hang out late into the night, eating sushi and talking about the last marathon each of us had run. Oh, how we laughed! You might not be able to tell from his blog posts, but Jason is a great guy to just chill out with once you get to know him. Watch out though, because while you’re just chilling out, Jason has a way of getting you revved up for the next big thing he’s working on. Before you know it, it’s 6AM and you’ve been up all night working on prototypes and proofs-of-concept.

So anyway, back to the linkbait thing. In writing a piece explaining to others how best to linkbait him, hasn’t Jason in reality written the most effective linkbait of them all? Think about it – now that people know how to get Jason to link to them, the first thing they’ll do is follow the instructions, which include linking to Jason many times over (like maybe to his Twitter page or one of the many Digg articles about him). Now that’s smart linkbaiting. The only question is, will anyone fall for it?