Whole lot of BS being slung around.
A park does not pay to be rated or included in the guidebook.
The criteria is the park has to offer sites to the public. (can't be a church camp, a park that is completely members only or some guys private enclave). They book publishers and rating staff have to know the park exists. The park can opt to not be rated and therefore not be included in the book.
Rating is also free. The raters do sell ads, but there are plenty of parks with no ads and good ratings. In the book is the exact scorecard the raters use when reviewing a park. If you were to score each park using that scorecard and put your personal feelings aside, you will almost always come up with the same score +/- maybe 1 point. I have never been offered a better rating if I buy an ad, and have never been told the rating would go down if I didn't.
The whole world isn't just a collection of scam artists looking to screw you, really.
