Review sites USED to be a good idea. Like, back when we invented the concept (x3guide). We don't exploit the use of names/search terms, but simply give our honest opinion of each site we review. Been doing it since early 2001, still doing it the same way.
(Yea I'm not counting linklist-sites like Jane/persian/etc when I say we were the first online and the one copied, re-copied, re-re-re-copied, etc)
The problem is that the term "Review Site" is now used as an _excuse_ to spam search terms. Typically you'll type in the name of a site, arrive at some bogus page with absolutely NO useful information about the site, but sure enough a ref-link to sign up.
Sometimes they use "clever" slogans like "Sorry, we haven't had time to review this site yet. Click here to visit it". Or "We have 20,000 sites in our database. 87 have reviews, the rest are 'pending'".
This (the latter) strategy is not honest. Running review sites like that is, as was initially stated, simply exploiting the name of the target site.
But don't go accusing review sites in general, because there are a handful that actually DO do what they imply they do. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with comparing sites to oneanother and giving surfers a choice.
If you want to include all reviewsites in the "bad guys" category, then it's simply a case of you wanting a monopoly in your niche. And that's pretty much BS
/x3guide.com