This is the FACT.There are lot of crap link directory out there in the process SEO purpose.I also realized many of them are build up with the same script (mostly php scripts) and what we get is usually there are hundred of links listed at the same page. There are bunch of automatic link exchange directories nowadays.Some SEO company (the one who make money by seo your sites) even provide bunch automatic directory submission tool /service where you can submit to numbers of directory at once.
This is the scenario . You submitted to thousands of them in hopes that my backlink count would increase. Well it did increase , but those directory submission didn't really help your rankings. Using a lot of my time to submit to directories wasn't really worth it. You could have done another thing and I couldn't been more productive. You came into conclusion that directories aren't really as good as others mentioned.
I never really got high-quality backlinks until I thought that I had to exert much more effort in developing my site instead of doing too much things to develop links! I started creating unique content for my website.
I spent time in researching what my targeted visitors searching for so I could give them what they searching for and keep them coming back to my site. After some months, I just noticed my link count go up! The links were mostly from sites linking to my pages (not just the homepage) from other blog who recommended their visitor the detail info/solution that found on my blog ,and from certain discussion boards which linked to specific parts of my site that the forum members enjoyed.That is what we call deep linking which will gain more link weight that any directory you can think off.(some expert believe it more important then blogroll)
So,next time you spending your time on adding your link to directory ,do some deep linking ,It does help when it come to building link.