I've recently been using this script for link exchange purposes and I believe its fantastic. Its called "autoBlogRoll" and allows you to automate the process of link exchanges. People wishing to be on your blogroll need only link to you and fill out a form on your website. The script checks the other parties website, and if THEY are linking to you .. plus they meet some criteria that you specify (For example you may only wish to accept blogs that have PR > 4) .. and bam - link exchange complete. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/auto-blogroll/ I'm not the author but thought I'd just share it in case anyone else was interested
From your description it looks like a cool WordPress plugin. It might be of a great help for everyone desperately trying to exchange links. I wonder what Google has to say about plugins like that? They don't like link exchanges very much.