I have been approached by a couple of people who have started topsite listings.

To me they appear to be just another list of sites lost on the net - anyone had some positive experience with them or other??

Its not such a bad idea if the sites are all of a specific category, especially if you're the one with the top sites list

We decided to make a top 10 list when we started ( http://www.tombofthemutilated.net/Canni … op-10.html ), don't get all that much traffic from it, but it makes good will in the community

But I agree with your assessment, most top sites list are unrelated meaningless links

I was approcahed about one dealing with caricatures, so pretty targetted - but how would that page ever be found i wonder - and yes the person who atrated it has their linking plastered all over it...so the benefit is really theirs

Pros:
Real links
lean pages
acceptable TBPR

Cons:
Require reciprocal link
seem to promote some sort of shopping cart software
not very comprehensive