I'm sorry you don't see the point I was making in my second paragraph.

Also, as I see it, the content of this thread is still current. If the content was outdated or lacked any value, I wouldn't waste my time - regardless of the 1-2 cents of potential link juice it *might* offer me.

Do I appreciate the minuscule (if any) amount of link juice offered by a "do-follow" blog? Sure I do. I make an effort to engage in intelligent discussion on topics that concern me. I also like to see benefits in terms of networking, sharing ideas, gaining insight, and yes, any possible link juice that 'might' go any of my various sites.

Sometimes we let our prejudices blind us from the full spectrum of others' intentions. That being said, I appreciate your frustration with spammers, I'm on the receiving end of dozens every day of the week.

I've participated in a few blog threads due to the fact that they actually advertise they are "do-follow" friendly. I've since been back to the same blogs to participate in further discussion because of their content, writing style, or overall blog vibe.

I saw some value in your post, and I attempted to add some intelligent feedback. My agenda might not be 100% to your liking, but is that ever the case anywhere?

As others have mentioned in this thread, all blogs will get their share of spammers, regardless of whether no-follow attributes are present or not. So many spam comments are automated anyway, bots travel the net and make auto comments on non-registration blogs.

While some might actively search for and choose "do-follow" blogs to engage in discussion, often this type of visitor has full intention of contributing to the discussion, and merely wants to engage where here will also be rewarded.

...but for how long.

There are many tricks in the book to earn a site "trust", but over time the SE algos get tweaked to disregard the attempts at having a site *seem* trusted.

So while the SE manipulation flavour-of-the year might work today, this is why I'll always put at least equal time and energy on making a site worth linking to.