This is how Dewey explained this week’s Weekly Geeks:

The theme for Week 2 is something I borrowed (yes, she said it was ok!) from Darla at Books and Other Thoughts. She says in her sidebar that if she reviews a book that you’ve reviewed, you can email her and she’ll link to it in her review. I love this idea for three reasons.

1. As a blog reader, I like that I can have my review linked in someone else’s blog.
2. As a blog reader, I like that if I’m interested in a book Darla writes about, there will be other reviews linked at the bottom of the page, so I can get other viewpoints. You can see how this works

here.

3. As a blog writer, when I review a book, I often remember that I read someone else’s review at some point, but whose? And when? With Darla’s method, people tell her about their reviews, and she can see what they had to say about a book that is still fresh in her mind.

So here’s your challenge! If you’re willing, adopt Darla’s policy in your own blog. I realize this is a big commitment, so think it over first, but I think it can be really community-building.

1. Write a blog post as soon as possible telling your readers that you’re adopting Darla’s policy.

2. As much as you can with the time available to you during the week, visit other Weekly Geeks who are adopting Darla’s policy and see if you have any reviews of books they’ve reviewed.


3. Later in the week (by Thursday is easiest for me, but by Friday is also ok) write about your experience this week: did people take you up on your offer, did you find reviews you could give to other bloggers, did you enjoy the experience, do you think you want to keep this policy, etc.

4. I would remind people for a while, at the end of your reviews, that you’re doing this. After a while, your regular readers will remember your new policy, but you might want to state it somewhere permanent for new readers.

Attention Fellow Bloggers:

I love Darla’s policy and am adopting it for my blog too. Therefore, if you also wrote a review on your blog for the same book I reviewed on my blog, please leave a link to your review in the comments section on my blog for the applicable book. I will add the link to the end of the applicable book review I have written. (this is retroactive, so will also include all previous reviews I have posted on this blog.)

I will also be updating this post at the end of the week to let you know how I like or dis-like this new policy. I reserve the right to cancel it at any time.

May 7, 2008 Update:

Hooray, I finally figured out how to use labels! To find out if I reviewed any of the same books that you did, scroll down to the bottom right hand side of my blog and look in Labels. That should make it much easier. Then, as before, just leave your links to your reviews in my comments here.

May 9th Update:
Summary of my experience with Weekly Geeks #2:

This weeks challenge seemed like a big scavenger hunt to me. I visited every Weekly Geeks # 2 participant’s blog and tried to find reviews of books that I also reviewed.

It was time consuming, but worth while. I not only found some reviews of some books that I also review, but in the process also found more incredible blogs! I really like linking reviews, I think it gives my readers more opinions of the same book to help them decide if a particular book is for them or not.

Thanks for this awesome challenge!

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