Okay, so as combo3 noted, "ls -lda" or "ls -ld" needs the extra ".*" arg, and then correctly lists all the links:
tc@box:~$ ls -lda .*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 Sep 24 09:13 .openoffice.org2 -> /mnt/hda3/Desktop/.openoffice.org2//
If I try to list only the .openoffice.org link, however:
tc@box:~$ ls -lda .openoffice.org2/
drwxr-sr-x 3 tc staff 4096 Sep 24 17:57 .openoffice.org2//
tc@box:~$ ls -la .openoffice.org2/
drwxr-sr-x 3 tc staff 4096 Sep 24 17:57 ./
drwxr-xr-x 14 tc staff 4096 Sep 24 08:37 ../
drwxr-sr-x 12 tc staff 4096 Sep 24 08:24 user/
Edit: Interesting....the same goes with "du -h", which requires the ".*" or it follows the link:
du -h
2.0M .openoffice.org2/
du -h .*
0 .openoffice.org2
"du -h .openoffice.org2" also follows the link (lists all the files, ending with 2.0M .openoffice.org2/)
Thanks!