You know, I've always had something against writing listicles. For the most part, the stuff you find floating around the wide, world web is pretty shit.
Some of it is written by passionate people who don't know how to hold a pen to paper - but I don't blame those people. If you have passion for something and want to share it, go ahead. You shouldn't have to worry about people judging what or how you write about something. Whether you're the next Slavoj Zizek or just some guy that really likes Pokemon and wants to list the - I don't know - top 50 yellow ghost-type pokemon, go ahead.
What I don't like is article spinners.
People who either literally copy and paste from other lists, or even worse use programs to spin articles for them. They're the reason that when you find a list of 'Top 20 X' in any fandom, you're likely to get the same 20. It's not because everyone who watches Shonen has the same Top 10 White Haired characters, it's because listicle writing is an industry, people churn these things out like mad. The number of job ads I've seen looking for people to write multiple unique lists a week - it's just not possible if you're putting in effort to research and make truly unique lists.
Obviously there's going to be some crossover. If everyone's listing the same character, there's likely a reason for it but there's no way everyone lists the same list. We all have our own preferences right? Like seriously, no one I spoke to agreed with me that Misty is a tomboy when I included her in my Best Tomboy Characters list.
Listicle writing doesn't pay tons. You can make a career out of it I guess, if you play by the algorithm. If you want to be the 5 Minute Crafts of the Anime world, sure go ahead. Spin articles till your head spins off. But I try not to do that.
Anyway, this is getting too ethical. My point is that no matter what you're into - no matter how 'serious' or 'not serious', you deserve good and researchers that care for the media you indulge in. I'm just one guy sitting in a small office, I can't pump out 20 articles a week but I try to do one Anime list a week over at Fandomspot (alongside more 'serious' writing).
Yeah this whole spiel was a shameless plug. Go figure.
Here's my newest one, knock yourself out: https://www.fandomspot.com/curly-haired-anime-girls/