I skimmed over some of this thread - the parts where discussion of "bad inbound links" hurting or not hurting a site. There was repeated requests for "show an example".
I haven't read much past that and I apologize if this is not relevant to the thread any longer (or at all) but here is an experiment that I watched unfold at another forum and in the end - tons of links directed toward the site - did hurt it. It took time but it did hurt - badly. There are charts and facts & figures withing the thread but I thought I'd share it in case anuone was interested.
17.000 coop weight to (dis)proof Google Bowling - SEO Chat
It's not "bad links" but lots of links in this test (kinda similar in regard to IBL's hurting a site though)