Say there is a site that is nofollow but very highly regarded. If a link is present in the site, will Google ignore it? It seems unlikely.
It might seem unlikely but that's what I've seen. But don't take my word for it, test it out for yourself.
Of course they are, but that is irrelevant to the original debate which was whether or not Googlebot actually follows nofollow. The fact that these backlinks are credited should be proof that Google DOES follow, or at least has followed at one point in time. The value has nothing to do with whether Googlebot followed the link or not. Considering that Google doesn't exactly show crap backlinks in the public results, i'd feel pretty good about betting on them having "some" level of value. I agree with tbarr60. It seems that type of instance would occur quite often. I feel that my "Google decides" theory is based mostly on that line of thinking. Google campaigned to have these installed on Blogs and Forums SITEWIDE. The majority of the links created on these mediums are legit. I can't believe Google would decide that ignoring EVERYTHING is the solution. It just doesn't make sense.