To the reader who sent me an e-mail message recently asking that we do a story about her being included in a "Who's Who" directory: We cannot do that, but let me give you some advice -- don't waste your time with such directories.

We occasionally get calls, letters or e-mail messages asking for publicity for being selected by some "exclusive" directory. Uh, I don't think so.

Let me tell you about a recent experience I had. I was looking through the Raleigh Polk Directory, a valuable resource for journalists, lawyers and others who need to locate people. The directory has a section I had never noticed before -- "movers and shakers," defined as "the most affluent individuals, business owners and key executives who live in the community."

Just for laughs, I checked for my name -- it was there!

Before I could get too proud, though, I began counting. There were 132 names on the first page and 355 pages of names. That comes out to 46,860 movers and shakers -- in a city of about 286,000!

And if you think about it, the club is even less exclusive than it seems. Thanks to the help of N&O researcher Toby Lyles, I found out that about 77,000 of Raleigh residents are under 21. Beating out minors for a movers and shakers list is kind of expected, so let's X them out.

That leaves about 209,000 adults. About one in four legitimate contenders made the club -- not very exclusive.

I'm not saying the Polk Directory is not credible -- in fact, it seems to be one of the more credible of the many such lists that are compiled each year.

Glenn Prettyman, Polk's vice president of advertising, said the list is based on such factors as job title and where you live. Unlike many publishers of "Who's Who" directories, Polk doesn't try to sell them to the people who are included.

He said the company this year "refined the calculators." Raleigh's list was pared to 25 pages. And, although I'm not on it, so its credibility seems to be on the upswing, it still doesn't strike me as very exclusive.

If you are solicited by one of these directories, I'd suggest using my approach: Don't join any exclusive club that would accept you as a member.