I recently signed myself up for Blog Explosion in hopes of bringing more traffic here. Unlike StumbleUpon, which takes me to sites I might find interesting (based on criteria I selected), BlogExplosion takes me to other bloggers using the service. The more I surf, the more traffic I get. The more they surf, the more likely I'll find them. It sounds like a nice arrangement, and it would be if it weren't for one teensy little problem. Most of the blogs I've hit are painfully boring. It amazes me how many vain and vapid people think I, or anyone else, give a flaming turd about how their day at work went or the funny thing Mr. Kitty did. Occasionally I'll be taken to a site with some real content. I might not agree with the points made, but at least there were points. I don't know how much longer I'll do this BlogExplosion thing. It's a time suck and the benefits haven't outwayed the costs so far (in time and patience).

If you have a blog, give it a try. It might be a better experience for you. Plus, I get bonus traffic when I refer people. 😉

Update 09/30/06: Boredom became less of a problem when the ability to surf by category was introduced some time after this post. These days it's the views to visits ratio that annoys me. I just don't have time to surf enough sites to get a decent number of visits here. Maybe if the odds of winning free credits were increased I'd be more inclined to use BE.

Bene Diction reports the following.

Bob Carlton of The Corner is inviting
bloggers to participate in a kind of end of the year round up of your favorite posts
you’ve put up on your blog in 2004. It’s a bit like Blogger
Idol, without an assigned topic and a button. Bob does all the work, all you
do is submit.
If you have posts you’ve put up you especially like this idea
is for you.
His instructions are below.

[T]the instructions are simple (you can post these or pass them along to other blogging
buddies):

• 1. Create an entry with your best 5 entries of the year.
• 2. Send me the entry link at bobcarlton@speakeasy.net
• 3. I am going to repost your entry on The Corner
• 4. Subscribe to the RSS feed
• 5. Spread the word
• 6. Enjoy the fun.
• It’s an opportunity to share your blogging with others.

I encourage (and beg) my loyal readers to dig through my archives and select their
favorite posts. Put your nominations in the comments. Be sure to give permalinks.
Thanks. 🙂