First of all, I think it's great you're trying to clean up the site. In my limited time running a gambling site, it's pretty sad seeing the cottage industry that has popped up writing dodgy/paid reviews. For some of the prices they have asked, I imagine they're even probably doing quite well. I think if you want to shake the image if your past, you might need to operate in a way that avoids directly taking money from site owners (direct advertising), or using affiliate links. I've seen a lot of: "Why don't you buy ads from us?" with a big *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* about getting special treatment in the organic section as well, to the point I'm not sure I could trust a review site to be impartial to someone advertising there.
Anyway, good luck! Also, I think you're getting off on the wrong foot with a thread that will invariably create incentivized bumping spamfest for site owners and shills. It likely would be a bettet idea to just link to a suggestion form.
Well as I am not the site owner, I am not one to make decisions based on the financial rewards the site may try to pursue. My sole purpose is to review all the sites that I can and write a review for them. Since there is no financial bearing I am placing on these sites personally, I don't quite see your point. The reviews I write will be honest, so whether advertising or affiliate links are placed there or not (I'm assuming they will need to financially want to support the site in some fashion) the reviews will not be biased towards that. If a negatively reviewed site wants to pay for advertising, they can do that, but my review stays the same. If potential players don't want to read the review, that is their choice. I do not know the ultimate final plan, but I do know I have reviews written and nothing has caused me to vary my opinion, in any matter, besides what they provide, within their site.
As far as your theory of starting out on the wrong foot, I am glad to see you already don't believe in the integrity in which I am trying to fulfill. It is self-moderated to prevent the vary things you have proceeded to mention. I appreciate your comments and concerns, but let's see how this plays out before we jump to being negative.