Personally, I think your original action was perfect: correct the comment and call out the linkback as a blatant money-grab (assuming that's what you think it was).
If that generates controversy in your comments, then that is GOOD, right? After all, every click counts so any heat is good heat?
For example, I got called out by VFTW for doing a linkback to
this forum. Check out comments 7,8 and 9 here:
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...sity/#comments
I don't think VFTW necessarily *liked* me linking back to FlyerTalk since it competes with MilePoint which he is a 'co-founder' of, but he let the comment stand with just a poke at me. Seemed both fair and appropriate to me...