Forum:Note about Neutral votes

Something I've been occasionally seeing in voting processes (AFDs, RFAs, War Room proposals, etc.) is the stuffing of Neutral votes without actual reasons. In real life, many voting mechanisms do allow for the option to abstain from a vote, but that primarily applies to certain executive or legislative forums that have a set number of voters. In an open vote, such as what we have here, abstaining is done by not participating in the vote. Actually taking part in the vote means you're not abstaining, and thus defeats the purpose of your neutral vote. In other words, please don't do this:

Or

Neutral votes are intended for users who are undecided on an issue. Where are user is not concerned with the issue, it is best to leave it to others rather than add a meaningless neutral vote. The problem arises when a 70% support is not reached due to users needlessly adding neutral votes (per COD:CONSENSUS).

In short, if you're not concerned with a particular vote, don't walk in a say you don't care. Think about it this way: you wouldn't add an apathetic neutral vote to every single AFD. Think about what you're actually adding if you're doing it for a policy proposal. --Scottie theNerd 16:14, August 26, 2010 (UTC)