[Foundation-l] WMF resolution on access to non-public data passed

Tue May 1 10:43:07 UTC 2007

On 5/1/07, Florence Devouard <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Now, thanks for asking the question, because I just realised "abstain"
> with "did not vote" were mixed under a unique description "abstain".
> Which is not correct as in one case a vote is given, in the other, no
> vote is given. The meaning is not the same. I will go through all the
> resolutions to check and correct this.

Under US parliamentary law, an "abstension" is a deliberate refusal to
vote: it means that the member is present in the chamber but actively
refused to cast a vote in the ballot.  Merely failing to vote due to
being absent or unavailable is not an abstension.  There is a
significant distinction, and your use of the incorrect term may have
confused some readers in the thread.

It would have been more appropriate to report the result as "six
members in favor, one member not voting".

Kelly