Human edited directories take time to manage. If you insist on breaking the rules you will end up being banned.
A few things to avoid:
- Submit the same URL more than once
- Request link exchanges
- Spam
- Argue with the editors
For human-edited directories read DMOZ, right? :)
Their forum is great fun; it's full of mad people complaining about their spam-sites not being accepted. And most of them are refreshingly to the point about "SEO professionals", too; there, they are called "SERP perps" ;)
Rob
Not just DMOZ. Don't forget there are loads of other human edited directories. I edit search.ie and browse.ie for example