How does disclosing a conflict of interest (COI) *completelyabsolve an editor of violating Wikipedia's COI policy when contributing to an article?

Disclosing a conflict of interest (COI) does *notcompletely absolve an editor of violating Wikipedia's COI policy. While disclosure is a crucial and necessary first step, it is not sufficient to fully comply with the policy. A conflict of interest arises when an editor's personal, professional, or financial relationships could bias their contributions to Wikipedia, potentially compromising the encyclopedia's neutrality. Disclosing a COI means informing the Wikipedia community about the nature of the conflict, typically on the article's talk page or the editor's user page. However, the COI policy strongly discourages editors with significant COIs from directly editing articles related to their conflict. Instead, they are advised to propose changes on the article's talk page and allow independent editors to review and implement them. Even with disclosure, directly editing articles where a COI exists can still lead to violations of the policy if the edits are perceived as biased, promotional, or self-serving. Disclosure simply provides transparency; it does not grant permission to edit in a way that advantages the conflicting interest. The best practice is to avoid direct editing and rely on other editors to incorporate suggested changes after careful evaluation.