You're right, most do suck, but not all
I have to admit, when my amateur site was open it was flooded with links, but it still converted at 1:200 or so (from the index page), so we must have been doing something right, lol. Jen N Dave's site is a favorite of mine, very clean, but no partner program. Justine (justinesbedroom.net) has a great site with a clean tour for partners. She's very hardcore and has a great site, you might want to check her out.
Cassie