From a public category database? Human added? Or convert from somewhere? Just working on a directory, building it category. It was really a wrong decision to use a public database for me. So where is yours from?
I added every single category manually. For every top category I would open up several different directories as a reference and go on from there. I probably used over 10 different directories in total and made sure that my category structure is somewhat different. You do not want to 100% replicate someone's category structure. And BTW, in my experience, 1,000 categories is more than enough. I am saying this because there are some directories with 5,000 categories, but you really do not need to take it that far, especially if you are going to add categories manually.
All cats on v7n were done one by one, not copying any other directory. A lot of work. Much easier to just copy dmoz or Yahoo.
I copied Google category structure..copy and paste for wwws.org and made a little change. Each new directory now gets copied from wwws.org and I make a little bit of changes here and there. Most directories category structures are near identicals, some are a little more creative than others.
So here is an idea, category comes from submission. Only 10 top one, more categories from more submission, sorting them to more related category. Will it make sense?
I always do my own categories. Anyone who doesn't obviously has no idea that search engines don't index duplicate content. I usually start off a niche directory with 10 or 12 major categories, that's just my personal preference. I think building categories is always going to be an ongoing process, you can never predict exactly which topic areas are going to need breaking down into smaller categories.
Every category in my noble dir is manually added and i got ideas from many other directories out here, checking which are more popular categories and so on..
I added all of my categories manually, over a 4 day period i think it was, obviously you find yourself adding some standard and expected categories, depending on the type of directory, but as many suggest already, its worth that extra time adding your own and not duplicating. I found it was possible to name some categories slightly differently too, while still being understandable.
I added all my categories manually, but I'll confess that I am guided by Dmoz structure for the first level. Mind you, I 've got only thos catergories that I have submissions for, I don't want a forest of empty categories, I suspect that has an effect on Search results
I installed category dump from www.directoryspy.com and then removed/added new categories and still doing. I just got a model.
I used a dump once - bad mistake. Create your own categories, doesn't take too long to start and then build on it. Don't try to copy dmoz and yahoo, they're in a different league, heres an example of a unique structure on a successful directory.
I started with a dump, when I realize that was a bad idea, I deletes all the categories and start again and populate all manually, but seeing and getting ideas from other directories and doing in my own way and the categories I believe were nice for my own directory.