Well I guess Ill be the one to say differently…WHAT CAN IT HURT? Even if the directory is a bad neiborhood…if it has casino, online casino, gambling, poker, etc in the domain name there will be no “penalty” that I have seen. Infact even though it has lost nearly all of its value…some directory operators will be amiable to place your listing near the top just to have you there.
I honestly belive you guys are thinking “boxed in”. Google understands what quality content is. Imagine link juice is not a static commodity. It has other values to it as well.
The AI does not have the ability to solely determine the quality of a site to another with out comparing its relevancy to one another via a pathway. The ONLY way this is possible is to create a link between them or the processing power needed would be out of control. This is the antithesis of cloud serving.
10 years from now all links to and from sites will be absolutly disolved in entirety as we only need one link to the cloud.
For now may I be the one to recommend you establish links anyway possible from relevant domains?
Keep in mind the advice you are getting is mostly from people that have thousands of links to thier site…how could one make a comprehensive statement when their link lists are so vast?