lots of questions on common freesite practices!

[Bill]

a partial answer to question 3:

Usually two links to the same paysite seperated by more than a quite small amount will be counted as two links.

Some linklists will let you 'group' links in small table ads, as long as all the links in the table ad point to the same sponsor. However, if you are just starting out building freesites, you should stick to the strictest possible interpreation of the rules.

Some linklists are quite strict, some are less strict.

a partial answer to question 4:

many linklists will let you place a small link to your domain root at the bottom of the page as part of a copyright. This is more of a priviledge than a right, and some reviewers are tougher than others, even at the same linklist.

Otherwise you should count a link to your root as one of the three allowed outgoings.