It's not about being fair. If you want to show their ad's you must play by their rules. Simple as that. Or they'll (yahoo/google) take the ball and go home.
I'm gonna try Yahoo's beta program, but if they're in the same ballpark as Google, I'm sure I could do better setting up my own relationships with advertisers. I'm seriously considering taking MY BALL and going home
Agreed. Below is what G states at https://www.google.com/adsense/policies Competitive Ads and Services We do not permit Google ads or search boxes accessing Google search services to be published on web pages that also contain what could be considered competing ads or services. If you have elected to receive contextually-targeted Google ads, this would include all other contextually-targeted ads or links on the same page as Google ads. This would also include ads throughout the site that mimic Google ads or otherwise appear to be associated with Google on your site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads do not mimic Google ads. If you have elected to receive Google search services, this would include other search services on the same site and non-Google query-targeted ads. We do allow affiliate or limited-text links.