This same "circular" argument come up every 6 months..
The fact remains
You need traffic to get sales.
You get traffic from link lists.
You need to fit LL rules to get listed, to get the traffic , to make the sales.
You can build a site anyway you like... even Cleo's interconnected FPAs... but you will have to find your own traffic in order to make the sales.
if you dont want to build to the rule/guidelines, then go right ahead....
DD