I think that researching stuff on the internet is a skill that must be aquired. Most people start off by using a search engines and most of the time find what they're looking for after sifting through all the different sites. I find that if you're looking for information and are not interested in purchasing something that there's a bit of a challenge.

Being an owner of a directory has been beneficial for research purposes because I understand directory structures. This has made it much easier for me to find information on directories. Intially I must admit that I use a search engine before starting off with Massive Links but depending on what I'm look for I'll just start off with Massive Links and then move onto Dmoz.

What I like about directories is that you have a list of sites that are there that have been reviewed and so you can expect some sort of quality control. There's no sifting through commercial sites and information sites because they are properly sorted out by category. If you want to purchase something it usually starts off in the shopping category, if it's b2b then you usually start off in the Business category and if it's simply information it's usually all the other categories.

When I use a directory for research I'll usually start off by searching the term and then look for the category that looks most relevant for the term. When I find the category I have a whole list of sites that are relevant to that term. Most directories will offer in their search results the category from where the listing is placed.

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Fabio