seems like article marketing / forum posting / blog commenting / directories are all dead and can hurt the ranking. so maybe it is the time to stop build links and do more on page seo and content creating? thanks!
You are completely wrong, web directory, blog posting, forum posting is still playing a vital role in link building.
Have a read of this - there are two sections in there (about balance and spamming) that are very good and plenty of links to other sources. It will give you plenty of ideas about the best route to recovery.
Some of the techniques you've mentioned in your OP are still methods which should be utilized. General rule of thumb is most link types have their place in a diverse link build. The complexity is identifying the right ways to go about acquiring those links. A good balance between quality and quantity is still proving successful for both our clients and our own web properties. WebDev
I've been wondering the same and trying to build good dofollow backlinks. I read that duplicate content sites and spamming are the worst.
Still studying about this.But I think I have to wait some more days to identify which linking method gonna work.Two things for sure after this update-don't do over optimization and focus only on relevant and quality backlinks.