Case Study - You Can't Fool Google For Long

I guess you could consider this Grey Hat Marketing.  That is, this guy reaped an unintentional benefit unintentionally.  This article briefly illuminates a Google weakness that was exploited by an a-hole merchant.  Back-links from relevant content.  Only the relevant content was a bunch of folks complaining about said a-hole.  The article links to another about the actual merchant and how he took advantage of his unpopularity by being even more unpopular.  Pretty amazing stuff.  The insight gained on Google's 'mindset' is priceless.

Google To Punish No-Good Sites With Revised Search Rankings