Originally Posted by Nookster

And that's a problem for the client? The root of the problem lies with the developer/webmaster who setup/uses the "massive directory". What kinda idiot just lets their directories go out of control? You're just asking for trouble with directories so massive that they lag connections trying to get data from them.
If you need to deal with these "massive directories" you better make sure that your own CPU can handle the data transfer when you're working with them!