“seo-friendly Directories”?

Hi….

Here’s something Iv heard about………. what are your opinion about directories that claim to be “seo-friendly”.
I mean.. are they really seo-friendly, and what’s the reason behind that title. Can they be totally trusted. I heard of rumors that we should totally keep away from directories that say that they are “seo-friendly”. I hear “human edited directories are good to approach, but are there any criterias according to which we should avoid considering certain directories. Please advice!!!