Of course, nothing is perfect. But, as you said it yourself, this forum is a good place to get reliable info about a sportsbook. Yes, there are sites doing honest reviews, but most websites with casino ratings hardly can be trusted. What I've noticed is that they can include 3-4 really good sites in their top 10, and then put on the 2nd, or even on the first place, the shady site that paid them, and since there's no forum there, you won't see any objections.
I think mostly they post dubious sites for referral links. I do not think that such reviewers are often paid for "job". We can see paid reviews on major review sites, but their review mostly shows small problems to increase the credibility of the reviewer and the casino. It's better to look here for what the players are saying.
What is clear, this forum provides so many trusted gambling sites and not just sportsbooks that we can use to play gambling. These gambling sites start from the bottom to gain the trust of all the members in this forum so that gradually, they can be at the top of the position of the gambling site. If a review site reviews a gambling site but there is no ANN in this forum, I think we have to be careful because it is not necessarily a site we can trust. But if a gambling site has ANN in the forum and is still trying to manage and maintain the site properly, that means their site can be trusted, especially if they already have a good reputation on this forum.