Just like Roy Thomsitt, I too have never searched for or liked web directories. His article talks about how Google may be honing in on search directories and decreasing their rankings with their new algorithm update.
“No directory owner has the divine right to syphon off Google’s hard won search customers. Google is doing a decent job at marketing: trying to look after its customers.”
“The message is not: ‘Hello, look at my pretty page. Do you like my Flash, and my clever graphics? And what about those links all over the place, aren’t they nice? You want to search? Hang on a minute, there’s lots of pictures for you to look at lower down, and how about going off to read about loads of other products. Oh, alright, you want to search; there’s a search box somewhere; near the bottom I think. You’ll find it….eventually.'”