Building a directory

[jacjil2]

I'm building a site where people can share common interests. To make it so people can browse the interests, I'm creating a directory. The more common interests(what I assume are more common) are broken up into more specific subcategories and the lesser to the likewise scale. This directory has been the hardest part of designing the site. I've spent three days so far just adding things, renaming things, and just plain trying to think of (or find on Google) every last thing that anyone could possibly interested in.

Anyway, I've never built a directory before so I really need some advice on how I have this set up and anything. And if you can think of things, to add, that I haven't thought of yet, that would be most helpful and I will appreciate you for life.

The whole list is too big to paste into the post so I've attached it as a text file.

[opifex]

...and it will keep on growing!!!!

i have done several directories (services, interests, tourism, etc.) and have learned through a lot of aggravation and too much time spent on straightening out / re-organizing / adding to / deleting from....
that the only way to attempt to maintain my sanity was to go bare bones for a site menu ( BASIC categories) and put the sub cats ONLY inside the cat sections.
I'm renovating a tourism destination site that got out of hand at the moment (as time permits) and ... it's not much fun.
i created a lot of the mess myself by over-categorizing. seemed like a good idea at the time!

so i do have a couple of things that i have learned from my experiences....

1. keep everything as simple as possible - minimal categories - minimal sub-cats - and if you absolutely have to add sub-sub-cats as needed and only when necessary.
2. run everything from your database of choice with the ability to cross-link items to multiple categories to minimize maintenance.
3. let the users suggest the needed changes/additions - they hopefully know what they want - and review planned changes several times before actually changing anything
4. buy a new coffee pot and several kilos of dark-roast coffee before starting the project

Good luck! and welcome to my nightmare!