Dear Ann Landers...

[mauiman]

I recently bought a directory with what seems to be every Website in the world already listed.

I've wiped out about 2000 links so far using PR as a guide. But as I get into rearranging the categories, moving links to more appropriate categories, revewing the 3000 pending links for possible inclusion, and reviewing links already in te directory or possible removal I thought I'd better get some expert advice. And this IS the best place I've found for that!

Questions:
Should I create country categories to list links from that country so the visitor can find relevant sites more easily or does this diminish the SEO value to the lister too much by moving the link out of a relevant category to their Website. An example is a Canadian dentist listed in Dentistry that may be moved to Canada- Health (or simply Mexico if he was a Mexican dentist).

Should I continue shedding weak sites that may have PR3, but they're on the lame side and not of any real value to a visitor? Or am I upsetting the apple cart and injuring the directory by removing any content? When is it better to cut a link then to keep it? (Note: I've already cut all PR0, PR1 and many PR2 sites. I'm clearing out the tacky pharmacy, dating, adultish, and other low-life submissions I find.)

Does anyone ever use the directory to find something? Or is it simply a place for Googbies (Webmasters addicted to SEO and pagerank) to submit a link?

And if directories are dead should I even waste my time with this?

Thanks for any help!