The reason I say to enumerate the links is not so much for ranking purposes, but to reinforce the visual aspect of the page. For me at least, it's much easier to parse the page if there's some kind of visual cue to help me keep track of where I am on a page.
Also, I've been on the web long enough to have learned to scan over and ignore ads (image and text ads), and a list/block of text without bullets or numbers screams "avert your eyes... ads!!" For example, the main content of the page looks very similar to the Google ads on the right column (with the exception of underlines), while the RSS feeds with the bright orange icons screams "look at me on this page of monotony!!"
You are talking about different things: chengmi talks about 'hotness' ranking numbers at the left of the links, while rwebb talks about the 'votes' ranking letters at the right.
I myself was confused by this AA BBB thing, but I suppose your target audience knows better?
ah i see - yes i was referring to hotness ratings and he was referring to numerical ordering. interesting ideas - i definitely think numbers help "parse" the text...
Also, I've been on the web long enough to have learned to scan over and ignore ads (image and text ads), and a list/block of text without bullets or numbers screams "avert your eyes... ads!!" For example, the main content of the page looks very similar to the Google ads on the right column (with the exception of underlines), while the RSS feeds with the bright orange icons screams "look at me on this page of monotony!!"
I hope this helps. Keep up the great work!