Bernie - 10:16 am on Mar 12, 2005 (gmt 0)

> I give a thumbs down to directory style link pages, and especially link pages that are several pages long.

The primary source of recip link deals is the topic-related directory I manage. It recently got a DMOZ-listing and now G started to list my site under "thetopic-directory". A lot of webmasters (still/already) believe in authority so on-topic link requests are coming in on a daily basis.

> If the website is written in poor English

agreed. if you don't speak english or can't afford a translator, publish in your own language.

> If the link request is in poor English

disagreed. You would find it hard to believe how many webmasters are out there who publish quality content, know enough about design and seo but speak and write poor english. I can speak for some countries in europe where a big chunk of the 50+ generation has severe problems with english.

On the other hand I am getting these unpersonal mass link-requests from companies in India, obviously written in impeccable english. I really don't think the quality of the language is a delimiter.