Backlinks - What is being displayed?

[dvduval]

I'm a little confused lately. At one time Google displayed all backlinks that had a PageRank 4 or higher. Now, I'm not sure what I'm looking at when I look at backlinks. If this has already been discussed I hope you'll at least tell me where, for it's not easy to search on "backlinks".

1) Is there some sort of rhyme or reason?
2) How often is the data updated approximately?
3) If the update schedule has been slowed considerably, what is the value of the data?

[gramski]

I'm not certain about this but it seems on my site that the only backlinks showing now are good unreciprocated links from relevant sites.

All the other links that used to show from free for all listings, anything with an "add url" link that I'd used, or from message boards or blogs that had mentioned my site are no longer showing.

I guess if thats whats happened across the whole index then the PR system may be actually improving in that its only counting "real" links and thats why many many sites have lost some PR. My site has gone from PR3 to PR0 but most pages are ranking as well or better than in the past so I don't think its a problem.

[Kirby]

I think G is conditioning us for the day when PR and backlink info is lets us see is meaningless - if it isnt already.