A tough question with no right answer, each case would be determined by the person looking to list in the directory. To answer the question directly, a person should put thier customers needs first not their own. you offer a service to promote investing business and thats what should happen, when people put self intersts before others, demise soon follows regardless of business type. But i have seen many unethical directories ( and those owners are poping up here posting link bait but will not name them ) I see people with editors choice only linked to thier top affiliate ads, i see directories where the latest features are all linked to affiliate ads, and no real distinction between truth and fairy land. These directories are false to the bone, the funiest thing is this. These people think they have covered all tracks and or come up with the most pathetic excuses but forget that todays consumer is smarter than ever, try and fool customers and you will loose. On top of that the wave of QBC free directories full of spam, affilaite links with stories like i have 20 free directories join one and ill list them all. I feel sorry for the mugs filling the spaces for nothing more than these people filling holes for a practice that does not care about the link but thier own pockets and peddling crap. I do see very shorty all good directories stannding apart from the crowd and all the crap going down the toilet where it belongs.
Skip it and move on to the next directory. I'm not going to pay $25 bucks to be listed on the eighth page.
I don't see how this is a problem at all. I have a few webmaster resource sites and I thought, "hell, why not start a directory to promote these and other sites in?" The person considering buying a link can make the judgement about whether the price is right for the PR, backlinks, traffic rating etc. However, if there is a directory owner who adds featured links on top of previous customers' links at a later date, I can very well see how this could be unethical. But if the owner put the links up from day one, I really think the choice comes down to the buyer of whether he or she wants to pay to put their link there.