Ive written reviews for dozens of review sites and I own a few that have very loyal followings. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
1)
Not All Review Sites Are The Same
Saying 'review sites are bad' or 'review sites are good' or 'review sites are anything else' is just silly. Some suck, some are great, some are honest, some are not. It would be no different than saying 'Reality Pornsites Suck" - there are dozens of them and none of them are the same.
2)
If you feel a review is unfair or inaccurate
Contact the review site and mention the review needs to be corrected. Some garbage sites are little more than glorified blogs claiming to be review sites... they won't pay any attention to you (and they aren't real review sites). On the other hand, the 50+ review sites listed in the WebmasterScore Review Site Submitter are easy to get in contact with and are known for being responsive.
That doesn't mean a review site will agree with you every time you bring up a point, and obviously to some degree reviews will always be subjective. The fact is that the review site audience trusts the review site the same way a movie audience trusts a film critic. If you have a factual disagreement (wrong scene count, incorrect media formats etc) that's very easy to fix for any review site owner and they have a vested interest in being as accurate as possible, so most will be thankful if you bring an error to their attention. If you dislike a 'score' or feel your site is 'hotter' than they said it is, make your argument and see if it sticks.. if it doesn't, it may be a subjective difference of opinion and frankly there is nothing wrong with that.
3)
Being a Dick doesn't help
If you see a review site has an error in one of its reviews of your sites, be polite... be professional. Let them know the error exists and give them an opportunity to correct the error. When I do reviews of sites for my own review site I show them to the paysite owner before I publish them and ask if anything looks inaccurate. I am polite and professional. When I encounter someone who thinks a review site 'works for them' or should be 'dishonest for them' or someone who just wants to start an argument... I usually just take down their review, put them on ignore, skip reviewing their sites in the future and move on.
There is always ways for a review site to improve - and always ways for a paysite to improve. Usually, a review is an opportunity to get honest feedback from someone who has seen and reviewed 100s if not 1000s of other paysites. Take the feedback and USE it. Usually, if a reviewer tells you your interface is weak, asking what they mean will reveal simple things you can do to improve your site. If a reviewer points out something on your tour is not completely honest, it's worth at least considering what they are saying because your customers will notice it as well.
Review sites don't 'work for' paysites.... but there are a lot of opportunities to work together if people simply act like professionals. I've reviewed your sites, and frankly they are very good. I also know for a fact that I gave you guys some feedback when Manojob first launched that got utilized to improve the site as part of the review process. Why more review sites and more paysites can't simply do that instead of bitching about each other AND generalizing as if all paysites or all reviews sites are the same thing.... I don't know.
