How do you define outbound links?

[Ms Naughty]

Hi gang

I just want to ask a question to clear something up, on behalf of myself, and for any newbies out there.

How do the various linklist owners here define "outbound links"?

Do you define them as:
1. Every single <a href> tag on a page (including links back to the root domain and 2257 links)
2. Every single link that goes to a sponsor (so if I've got a linked banner for a site with text underneath and the last bit of text is a link that says "Click here for sponsor" that's 2 links)
3. Every ad that goes to a single sponsor site (so the above only counts as one "link")

I've always considered the "no more than 3 outbound links" rule to mean "no more than three ads for sponsors per page"... but perhaps others interpret this differently. I'm interested to hear your thoughts. Can you clearly list how you implement this rule on your own linklist?