Seth describes well the antithesis of not just good internet sense but of good business sense.  Their approach is the web / social equivalent of email spam.

I get emails too, but generally they are from like minded people, and even then I only post with attribution, and when it suits me and this site. Anything less would be a total failure in my view.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve received several emails, all the same, all from real people at Reed. They baldly (and boldly) ask me to swap links with them as part of a scheme to move up the Google rankings. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I don’t do that, nor does any reputable blog I know of.

Source: Seth’s Blog: Spammers, and proud of it