P.S.: Don't mind me posting a bit

I'm just applying a little love to a rusty old engine to get it running

[Webwork]

As anyone who has ever had the job of "waking up" a slumbering piece of equipment stored in the great outdoors knows sometimes you've gotta go at it with zest, wire brushes, hammers, prybars, solvents, oil, grease, torches, . . . you name it.

So, forgive my following my introduction as co-mod with a flurry of posts. I am NOT here to dominate the dialogue at all. No fun in that. I'm just here to kick start a big honking piece of somewhat sluggish and rusted heavy equipment: You all. Lots of brainpower and experience out there.

Gentlemen and Gentlewomen: Please start your engines. Let's go for a ride.

Grrrr . . crreeeeak . . . sput . sput . sput . . BOOM . . eeeeeeeeee . . BOOM . . chuga chuga chuga . . BOOM . . . gassssssssssssppppp . . "Damn! Someone hand me the WD40 and the breaker bar! I think she's gonna run!"

[edited by: Webwork at 5:24 pm (utc) on Oct. 8, 2006]

[Leosghost]

I'm sure it will run smooth ..if we get behind it and give it a ..kick start and a bit of a push ..;-)

So ..is there any future for general directories ..or are "locals" going to take over ..how does one define a directory ..

and how do you avoid them becoming natural recip link farms?

is "niche"... nicer?

adsense ..or pay for inclusion ..?

[Silvery]

So many questions all at once!

It appears to me that the future is still bright for directories, particularly for vertical/niche directories.

Google has stated that they do not consider themselves to be a content company -- just a search company enabling users to find content. As such, they *need* the vertical/niche directories' content to build applications around.

Directories which build more content around listings beyond mere Name + Description + Contact info would seem to have a decided advantage in this business. Adding features such as ranking criteria, user ratings of the listing, and other contextual information that's salient about the type of business -- these are going to be the differentiators.

Will there be eventual collapsing or merging of niche directories? Probably at some point, but it looks like that point is still quite a ways away.