Reciprocal directories

Currentl, my directory "requires" reciprocal links in order to be listed. I do not check on reciprocal links, nor do I reject sites that don't have them, but the script requires an URL (any URL) to be put in the reciprocal link field in order to submit the site. I imagine a good chunk of the listings in the directory do not have valid, or their own, reciprocal links (you could always use http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php as a recip URL). Now, I originally did this in order to get my link out amongst the internet, and I get a fair amount of traffic through these links.
What I would like to know, and am inviting peoples opinions on, is having a directory that requires reciprocal links a good idea? I have come across some statements that Google, in particular, could penalize the site as a link farm or similar, whilst others think it doesn't matter. Obviously, having the recip URL on a different site to the submitted one is better. I have started listing my own recip URLs on a different domain hosted by a different company, although not all sites allow this.
I have been considering for a while changing the script to stop requiring recip links, but instead just asking for them, but I would be grateful for some input on this matter.

 

How I feel about being asked for a reciprocal link is the site or the page's relevance to me.

If you've got a page about widgets and you want me to link my page about red widgets to it, that's probably OK. But if you've got a whole bunch of links about everything, well, I'd rather not link to you. Because you're not Yahoo or Google.

We're planning on introducing reciprocal linking but we want it theme to theme. Meaning that we want you to link to left-handed metric red widgets and we'll link back to you from there.

 

One more thought:

What I'd like to find and haven't, so far, is a links program that is sophisticated and page-oriented.

There are programs that are sophisticated but want to build categories separate of our pages. They do things that I hadn't thought of, like checking for the links page in robots.txt or with a nofollow tag. Handle all the checking and so on.

Scripts that could be used are too simple. We'd have to write the key features of the sophisticated programs.

My goal is this: If you're on the left-handed metric red widget page, we have a links page for left-handed metric red widget page. No categories, etc.

 

Here is some input: For Best Web Directories, here are some stats that show the popularity of free vs recip directories.
Apr 1 - 11
free directories: viewed 1405 times
reciprocal directories : viewed 83 times

Our users have a big preference for free directories with no strings attached.

Having said that, if your site has something valuable to offer, like good PR listings, then I try to compare a recip directory to a paid directory. If you don't have the budget then you can decide whether it is worth a small risk. Your gain is better if the recip directory has a much higher PR than your own.

In my opinion, the big downside of recip directories is that it takes so long to go to each of my sites and upload a link, record its location and then go back and finish the submission to the directory. In most cases, the cost/benefit of my time is no longer worthwhile.