Some people say that submitting to poor quality directories can hurt your SEO even if the link is one-way. However, if this theory is true then that means it is possible to somewhat sabotage somebody's ranking just by submitting their website to such directories. Do you believe there is such thing as a "bad" one-way link or is this simply a myth?
I think its a myth. If it is true then I can easily dump my competitor by adding their links in the bad directories and sites. Its not so easy.
I don't know if there are links that can hurt you, but there are plenty of backlinks that do no good.
QFT. Examples: Massively link-juice bleed (i.e. 4,123,213 OBLs on the one page) Links from irrelevant pages Sitewide links