martinibuster - 9:38 am on Apr 23, 2009 (gmt 0)

>>>Reciprocal links are as good as dead for long time now.

Don't believe everything you read. ;) There are many sites doing well with reciprocal links. Same rules about quality apply.

>>> simple google is smart and if you do stuff like I scratch your back in return you scratch mine-such things will never get credit with google.

Backscratching has nothing to do with how much PR Google flows to a site.

>>>Also there is risk of getting penalized/banned if you do reciprocal links in the wrong way(linking to banned sites or to sites totally unrelated to yours).

Outdated information. Google has come a long way. It's not a penalization or banning. Your site is simply not relevant anymore.

>>>but reciprocal links have the risk since one has full control over who they link to.

Your control over linking back has nothing to do with how well a link works. Zero.