This list bases on a few criteria, so one must do their own research first.
LTCGear has been so far good and so has been PBMining.
But i would never put money down on PETAmine, the payouts they give out is far less than what should be for 1Gh, plus other users seem to think it is a long con.
Criterias should include real world contact and reachability, a real person(s) behind this and has someone visited them etc.
EDIT: Tho thanks for doing the work, it does cut some of the work vetting these out
Companies that play it honestly will generally get a bad reputation because they will usually prove unprofitable. Thats what mining at end user prices + operating and profit margin for the issuer tends to result in. THe ponzi's can promise far better profitability.. right until when they disappear.
So yeah, you will find plenty people bashing the companies that I rated as legitimate and people raving the obvious ponzi's. Of course that will change over time.
As for cryptx specifically; its kinda ironic Ive been warning against investing in them since last spring. Not because they are not legitimate, but because the market prices guaranteed a huge loss. That of course happened, and that is mostly why people are bashing cryptx, but simple math could have predicted that, I predicted it, but that is no fault of cryptx. There are some issues you can blame him for, like ignoring shareholder vote to switch pools, but by and large, thats small potatoes compared to the ponzi's that dont even mine anywhere.