The_Contractor - 2:06 pm on Aug 1, 2007 (gmt 0)

Very well put Woz. I always tell people to spend days, weeks, or months planning a directory (depending on scope) before actually starting one. It's a lot tougher turning back or changing things once it is established.

It's very easy to create categories and use the tools out there or integrated with directory management scripts to crawl sites themselves (relying on meta data), import ODP, or scrape search engine results. Sure is fast and sure is sh@t too.

It's a lot harder to come up with the structure and put a policy in place on creating subcategories and crosslinking them etc. It's also a lot harder and more time consuming to add listings by manually reviewing each site and disregarding 99% of what was submitted (title/description, category it was submitted to, or other info). Creating and adhering to a listing policy is a must and should apply to every site in the directory whether it's a friends, your own, free, paid listing, or an advertisement.