I agree. There are too few directories out there that actually put very much effort into promotion, design, or even whether or not real surfers will ever come across their pages. With a little effort, you can have an okay directory, with a lot of effort and a lot of thought, there is a lot of money to be made. I think the number one problem with most directories is that they only concentrate on the webmaster. They don't pay much attention to the folks that actually might use the search bar. I personally believe that the search bar is what it's all about, if your directory can't drive traffic to it's patrons, then what's the point?
PR? Not likely to get much of that from most directories.
Anyhow, I like your post. The nay sayers will abound, but they can keep their 9 to 5's while you and I go and create awesome directories that will actually get used. Nice post.