Is producing good content white hat? Is having that content linked to, because it is authoritive, white hat? How about buying that same domain, then?

Shouldn’t be much difference, really, yet if you’re buying domains for their search engine placement/juice potential, one needs to step carefully lest the domains get reset to “new” status. Still, old domains are the new SEO.

Meanwhile, Graywolf explains how the rules are changing, because it’s become a lot less profitable to start from scratch with a new domain. A side effect of the “sandbox effect” is that authoritive domains become targets of opportunity.