Links in Blogs, Forums, Directories & Articles

Its been widely stated (and plagiarised and repurposed) that the Dewey update at the beginning of April 2008) was an algorithmic change that affected the back link juice from blogs, directories and .info websites.

I can actually verify that this did indeed happen, but according to Nathan J. from Google, ” I would treat social sites and blogs the same as any other site.” (when weighting backlinks)

And more from Matt Cutts,” Article directory links certainly aren’t inherently worth more and don’t get more weight than other web sites or blogs”

And more from Matt Cutts,” Right now we haven’t changed how we’re weighting directory links–we’ve only removed the directory suggestion from the webmaster guidelines”

Now I’ve actually read and have seen several instances of proof that after the Dewey update, many sites lost positions and PR because of SOME sort of devaluation.
I’m guessing at this but what stands out in the omission of the number of back links a website was showing after April 8th, 2008. Most of these were PR0 and .info sites.

Now don’t misinterpret what I am saying here, even a link from a PR0 site is worth SOMETHING. Is it worth putting a value on them for any reason?
In an article linking to your HOME PAGE – yes
On a PR0 link blog post? – yes but no monetary value at all
On a PR0 link forum post? – yes but no monetary value at all

But remember, many forums and blogs, and definitely articles, will eventually gain PR, trust and authority, and become archived and may rank one day, or may just add juice to your website and influence your positions.

GaryTheScubaGuy