For a couple of hours this afternoon I was a member of Blog Explosion, a new site that promises to dramatically increase the number of hits on one’s blog. Depending as I do on validation from strangers, I hurried to sign up first and ask questions later.

I’m always on the lookout for great blogs, and I hoped that Blog Explosion might do a bit of double duty — leading me to treasures I’d yet to stumble across while at the same time leading other, potentially faithful, readers here to my site. I anticipated that it would be something like a blog ring or lists of blogs according to category. I belong to a couple of each and have found good reads through both.

Blog Explosion, however, is a whole ‘nother deal.

The idea is that you “earn” referrals to your blog by checking out other members’ blogs. That sounds fair, right? But in Blog Explosion World, “checking out” someone’s blog translates to having the page open for thirty seconds. The referring system even comes equipped with a handy little counter at the top of each referred blog, letting you know exactly when the required time has elapsed and you may click the button to go to the next page, working ever toward the privilege of having someone, somewhere leaving your page open for thirty seconds. It’s all about reciprocity, see?

Because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you can’t get even the tiniest feel for a blog in thirty seconds or less–it’s not unusual that a page hasn’t even loaded in the allotted half-minute–the program also comes with a “Blogmark” button, which allows you to save the site in your account info, to peruse leisurely when you’re off the clock. Heaven knows it would be simply too much trouble to bookmark it in your browser … how many precious seconds might that take?! It doesn’t bear thinking about.

After spending about ten minutes “checking out” fifteen or so blogs (I expect I would become quicker on the draw if I had more practice — ten minutes should be plenty of time for nineteen blogs, with a good fifteen or twenty seconds to spare), I lost heart and deleted my membership. I can’t imagine what kind of misguided vanity makes a person so desperate for hits that racking up these “assembly line” visits is a boost to the ego. I want to see my stats go up as much as the next person, but I’d also like to imagine that people who find their way to my blog give it at least a cursory read before moving on.

What’s the point, otherwise?