Directories in my opinion are not for direct traffic. Well submitting to 1000 worthy directories, that might send you a decent amount of traffic. However I do it for SEO purposes mostly.
I agree completely. I am only getting started compared to most people but I get the most visitors and sales from other places, such as blogs, banners, text links, and the most actually comes from forums.
i think Dmoz, Google, and seofriendlydirectory4u.com gives your site some traffic. i got 45 visit form seofriendlydirectory4u.com in one week.