rogerd - 1:22 am on Aug 9, 2001 (gmt 0)

I haven't heard of any firm test results, but based on my experience I think it is a matter of degree - if most of your links are on topic, a few off-topic ones won't hurt you. If 80% of your links are off-topic, that might pose more of a problem.

Suggestion: for all links, but particularly your off-theme ones, try to be sure you have good, keyword-based link text. Remember the "dumb m***********" links that made the G W Bush Jr site #1 for that keyword - presumably, all of those sites were about other topics, but the text alone did the job.