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Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:03:20 +0200
To: php internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] "Abstain" voting option for RFCs
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From: tim@bastelstu.be (=?UTF-8?Q?Tim_D=C3=BCsterhus?=)

Hi

Adding an "Abstain" option to RFCs was an idea that floated around 
multiple times in the past and it now came up again as part of (more 
than) one of the RFCs that recently went to vote. I've therefore finally 
written up a policy RFC to add such an option. As part of doing that I 
have also cleaned up the phrasing of the corresponding section and added 
some clarification of what I believe matches the current policy and just 
wasn't written down, particularly around "secondary votes".

Please find the RFC at: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/rfc_vote_abstain
And the PR at: https://github.com/php/policies/pull/20

As with all policy RFCs, the corresponding PR to the policies repository 
will be the authoritative source of the proposal and the RFC (and 
discussion) will only provide extra context. Please do not comment on 
the PR (except for minor typographical or phrasing clarification 
suggestions). For comments regarding the actual "policy" reply to this 
discussion thread for proper visibility instead and I'll make sure to 
incorporate them as appropriate.

This message is intended to begin the official discussion period. While 
it would be great to bring this policy into effect before any RFCs 
targeting PHP 8.6, I'll make sure to monitor the (list) activity with 
regard to folks being busy finalizing their own RFCs (and enjoying their 
summer vacations [1]) to make sure everyone had plenty of opportunity to 
participate in the discussion, so I would expect a vote around end of 
August at the earliest.

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus

[1] I'll be on vacation myself in August :-)