Angela ~ this is an interesting question. Within my "niche" I had set up an exchange of sorts that would benefit both sides. I arranged for publicity for support groups, events, etc. and in exchange for my posting their information on my high traffic site, I only asked that they provide a link back.
When it got to where they were giving that link back in some buried, barely existant page, I decided to abandoned the idea altogether.
I was beginning to feel taken advantage of and have tried to keep that in mind in all the exchanges I've done since then.
I just could NEVER imagine asking or expecting someone to link to me and not offering the same in return.
Now in the case of Lynn here, when people are linking to specific relevant articles, that's a bit different. If the article were featuring them personally, I'd think it would be a kind and polite to link back.
It just seems polite to me.
I hope that makes sense
I feel like I'm rambling.
Gayla