treeline - 4:52 pm on Apr 11, 2006 (gmt 0)

Instead of basing ranking on traffic, imagine them using it in a different manner. They'll keep as primary elements what has brought them so far, so linking and other relevancy factors will remain. Now they can start at the sites with the most links and work down, saying "OK, you've got 600,000 links and no visitors. Something smells rotten..."

If you deserved a zillion links, you'll have a bunch of traffic following them. If the links are all on your (& friends) sites, or hidden, the traffic won't be there and you'll stand out like a sore thumb waiting to get whacked by the algo.

Instead of basing everything on traffic, think of it like a pesky little sister ratting you out to mom....