The latest heavy-handed, brutish attack on web directories and those who choose to use to them is both petty and spiteful. It’s unworthy of Google, and is bound to have far-reaching consequences. It’s also totally unnecessary, as an equitable outcome could have been achieved by quietly ignoring any perceived low-value links to websites. Deliberately devaluing websites because of links that Google arbitrarily decides are of low value is overkill. It takes no account of several aspects:
http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/02/25/google-tolls-the-death-knell-for-web-directories/
Toms Blog on Life and Livingness