Please help me understand if the latest PR update target sites that buy/sell links more than it targets sites that don't buy/sell links.
No. My personal opinion is that this update actually just devalues links found in the footer/possibly long lists of links in the sidebar. Several of the more notable sites that lost PR did not sell paid links. One or more of the sites that lost PR were large blog networks that used the PR of the more popular blogs to lift the entire ship. Where are those links typically found? In the footer / as part of the blogroll.
Possible. Do you think they punish(PR leaking) sites using links in this way or just make those links useless(not sending PR)? Maybe a mix?
I'm not sure. In the past, when devaluing sites, they've just made those links useless. With all of the FUD flying around right now the only way we're going to know for sure is to do tests for ourselves. Maybe someone over at SEOmoz would be willing to do one, similar to the reciprocal linking post from awhile back.
the "last" pr update is still happening lol, no one can draw conclusions cuz everyone's PR is jumping up and down, especially some of my sites
I don't buy or sell text links, all my sites maintained the same PR. I did rise very will in my SERPs!
I buy and sell links and I gain PR on all my sites. Do it the right way and you will never lose All the best. I have been trying to say for a long time that you have to treat google as a smart human being. I think that now, the people that dont treat google as a human being are losing PR.
I previously bought and sold links (I just removed them and paid people back) and I lost PR, but I think I lost PR because I was listed in quite a few directories that lost PR rather than my own activities. Ironically, my own directory didn't lose PR although some of my other sites did.
I have not seen any change in my pr following this last update. I have a feeling it hasnt quite reached my sites yet. I have a couple of links that are paying to be on the homepage, which I am now seriously considering taking down. For the little they make it is so not worth undoing all the hard SEO work I have been doing.