  <h1 align="center">Conflicts of Interest</h1>
  <p>The Open Directory prides itself on being a free, non-commercial and open 
    resource for the Web community. Selecting, evaluating, describing, and organizing 
    all web sites fairly and equitably are key components of the editing process. 
    We rely on the philanthropy of our volunteer editors, and strongly discourage 
    anyone from accepting or soliciting any form of compensation for their participation 
    in the Open Directory. Additionally, we discourage submitters from soliciting 
    or bribing editors in exchange for listings in the directory. Editors found 
    to be accepting or soliciting bribes in exchange for listing sites or unfairly 
    promoting these sites over others will be <a href="/ddp/03001/#removal">removed 
    from the directory</a></p>
    <p>Everyone is welcome to apply to join the ODP, including those who own, 
      maintain and promote websites. Editors may have business or other types 
      of affiliations relevant to the categories they edit, and may add their 
      own sites or sites with which they are affiliated. However, it is contrary 
      to the goals and policy of the ODP for editors to add only their own or 
      affiliate sites, to engage in self cooling or other forms of self promotion, 
      or to exclude or disadvantage a site that belongs to a competitor for the 
      purpose of harming the competitor. Inappropriate actions may include excluding 
      competitors' sites from the directory simply because they belong to a competitor 
      or intentionally editing their titles or descriptions in a manner that distorts 
      their content or diminishes the chance that users will find or view those 
      sites.</p>
    <p>In some cases, an editor's business affiliation overlaps their involvement 
      in the directory, such as with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals 
      and Professional Content Providers (PCPs), whose participation may benefit 
      both the editor and the directory. Instances when the involvement is mutually 
      beneficial are acceptable, however, the primary focus and goal should always 
      be to serve the best interests of the ODP and the editing community. Conducting 
      unfair and deceptive activities to promote and support client listings will 
      result in removal of editing privileges.
