Forum Moderators: open
A new site starts with a PR0. Penalised sites are also many times get a PR0.
When a new site asks for link from others, sometimes it is confused to be a penalized site and others are hesitant to link back. Most people do not reply back.
Fortunately for my site, (some people emailed me back and asked how long my site is live), when they were sure I am not a penalized site. They linked back inspite of being a PR0 site. I am sure the content of my site helped me. Currently my success rate is 45%. (touchwood)
But I lost those who did not bother to ask me back. They were majority in number though.