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You can't get sandboxed for what points to you (if that was possible you would just do whatever was necessary to sandbox all of your competitors). You CAN get sandboxed for pointing into bad neighborhoods, and pointing to web wings or reciprocal linking with bad sites could fall into this category. There's no short cut. Work on getting valuable links from real sites. Give them come unique content (guest blog article, perhaps) in exchange for a link back. It's more work, but it's white hat and the link will pass real juice to your site.

Don't do it. Yes, they will be spammy, low-quality, and pass extremely little (probably zero) page rank. The directory pages are probably not indexed and if they are they are probably devalued. And if there are 65,000 of them then they're probably all owned by the same guy, in some templated database style, with the same C-class IP address. Google is wise to this and doesn't index or doesn't value those kinds of links.

I don't think link exchanges, at least direct link exchanges, are a good tactic unless the business is an association or true business partner. (Like getting a link from the humane association and linking back to them). Generally only link exchange with businesses you know are well respected by Google.

I would not post the same piece of content 15 times. I would post it just once on my highest authority website. I would then mention that it was posted on all the other 14 domains and link them to the piece of content.

Some stuff I look for in a quality link: Pagerank/MozRank Other links on page - are there any pill/viagra or gambling/porn links?  Anything else fishy?  Skip it if so.  Are there more than 50-100 outbound links on the page?  That's a lot. Google cache date - has it been cached within the last couple of weeks?  The more recent the better. Is the site relevant to your niche?  What about the domain?  Does it look like a dropped site?  If so skip it. How easy is it to get a link?  Do they automatically take reciprocals? And like Adam said, how is the content? All of these factors can help, but really it also comes down to your gut feeling.

Its just my opinion but directories cant really harm you because a competitiors could just submiut you in them if so. I usually use the SEOMoz tool bar and only submit to directories that have a decent authority. Just don't use any mass submitter tools for this, or well research them if you intend too.

Search engines do see no-follow links. If it is the link from reputable website then even if it is no-follow it should be helpful.

Read Paddys blog about this - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-build-links-without-fancy-tools I commented with an example of the email I send http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-build-links-without-fancy-tools#jtc138789 I just keep it as simple and honest as possible

The ways to leverage paid advertising is to buy links that are follow link, but also can drive traffic. Think of link building as advertising. Try to get good links that will also drive traffic. I would have a good content for edits to link to. Also writing a guest post is a good idea. Also if you are sending traffic to your site, then those visitors may want to link to you.

I wish I could help you with that one, I'm not too proficient in PHP. Maybe someone else with more development experience can answer?

Pagerank is tracked on a 1-10 system, 10 being the best. However, Pagerank is not the end all of how well a site is trusted or how quality their link popularity is.  I have seen sites with pagerank 1 beat sites with pagerank 5. You should use the SEOmoz tool bar, which shows Mozrank, Moztrust, and PageAuthority.  Some info on that here; http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/mozrank

Hi Dejan, Thank you for answering my question. I was wondering on a scale of say 1 -100, how much link value would a duplicate content link have? Also does the link from the original article have normal link value, or does the orignal article get penalized with a duplicate link value as well?

I agree. In general, I would say that your branded links should always be greater than any single keyword. Sounds like you are doing it right.

I believe they are basically ways of automating link exchange between sites and a network of partners who are willing to exchange. There  is a review here: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/review-linksmanager-links-exchange-toolbar/5440/ It may have grown since that review, and it may have a little, tiny, bit of merit, but I would not make it a large part of your strategy in any way, shape or form. The good links are always the ones that are hard to get.