Is it ethical no matter the situation for the manager to join in a contest they are hosting? Even if given permission, should they have even thought about joining?
If it's allowed then it's allowed.
But the manager must lose in the competition they participated, if they won, I won't join in their contest because it will raise a conflict of interest.
Is it ethical to message another managers clients trying to steal them with cheaper rates? I have heard this is being done as well, the other manager will be made aware of this thread and can post if they like.
Ethical, it's not stealing, but it proves whether you're good or not.
If the clients are really want to work with you, even there are 100 people trying to hijack your clients, the clients will still choose you over them.
From what I read only 1 other person participated right? So who's disappointed? The contest might have been better ran if there was mention of a minimum number of participants or contest gets cancelled. Protect the client if running their contest without being shady.
Rules shouldn't really be changed once contest starts!!
Regardless, it doesn't seem to me that you are ready to manage anything at this point, you still need to work on building a reputation and your ethics before handling anything.
Agree.
My opinion about that thread, I still won't want to conclude either one is wrong because as I said before, there's no picture of their conversation.