Meanwhile directories get indexed, most blogs don't.. Go figure. Let me qualify that a little more.. Both get indexed, only one has its indexed results actually show up in search results... again, Go figure.
Spam blogs are as worthless as directories which contains spam, and article directories have lost their worth a long time ago.
It's no big loss, guest blog posts and social media are better sources of links for ranking purposes anyway. Directories were never ideal for traffic either from SEO/ranking (due to the spam directory factor) or non-SEO follow-thru link traffic (most viewers of an article do not click the site link, or they click the Adsense link instead). Directories were primarily designed for syndicating articles with your link, where webmasters could cull free content related to their own sites by simply reposting your article to their sites. They get good quick content, you get good quick backlinks, both sides are happy. People just simply got greedy over the years, and now want the articles directories to also get them maximum link juice, a burden they were not designed for.
Looks like Google has now contradicted what you said and declared that guest blog posts and bookmarking links are worthless: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en It is also clear in their statement that only low-quality directories are worthless, not all directories as a whole.
Dmoz and other few top directories are worth submitting. I think other are useless. For now, having a strong social signal is the best SEO practice.
Google loves to act like they are being fair, while acting to de-rank wholesale. Well regarded directories had to scramble to conform to the recent algo changes, it's just a fact. I didn't mention bookmarking sites at all. And just as there are good and bad directories, there's also a difference between high PR blogs with guest posts in them, and spam/low quality blogs as well.
Directory links have no value now. Although, there are some directory sites that sends traffic to sites.
You've kinda contradicted yourself there. You say directory links have no value, but indicate that they do send traffic...
The poster could mean no SEO value, as in ranking sites, but that they have some value for human follow-through link traffic.
Real directories, meaning those around long before Google went on it's link trip and thousands of link farms sprang up calling themselves directories pass just as much link juice as they ever did. Those Henny Penny fools running around telling the world the sky is falling for directories are talking from ignorance and internet rumors. The link farms that sprang up were never directories having no real database and those who are penalized for using them are getting what they deserve for trying to manipulate the system.
The directories that offer unique content for your link by manually writing reviews and not using software to do so still weigh better in google eyes.