The LookSmart volunteer directory Zeal has been closed.

Internetbrus reports that LookSmart has decided to close down the web directory Zeal, which at the moment feeds non-commercial directory results into the LookSmart search listings.

Zeal has been based on the same concept as the Open Directory (which feeds data into the Pandia Plus Directory as well as the Google Directory): It is volunteer based, meaning that the editors select and write the directory listings without getting paid for it.

In a short comment LookSmart thanks the “zealots” for being a part of the Zeal community and contributing time and knowledge to the Directory:

“LookSmart has decided to focus internal resources on objectives that are more central to our business strategy and Zeal.com has been shut down. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you again for contributing to the Zeal community.”

There are still several human edited directories around, though:

Argus
Librarians’ index
BUBL UK
Infomine
Open Directory
Academic Info
Gimpsy
IllumiRate
Skaffe

And then, of course, there is the mother of all directories: the Yahoo Directory. Given that Yahoo! by default gives you search engine results, the Yahoo Directory is not that much used, but it is still a useful tool for looking for more generic, topic based, web sites.