On Mon, 2026-05-18 at 13:58 +0300, msh210 via agora-discussion wrote: > HI, all. > > Question from a newbie. > > Maybe I'm misreading it, but R2127 sounds like it only allows for > if-then, not if-then-else, conditional votes. In fact, it explicitly > prescribes that the "else" is always PRESENT: > << > If the conditional is clearly specified, and evaluates to a valid > vote, it is counted as that vote; otherwise, it is counted as > PRESENT. > >> > > Are if-then-else votes traditionally accepted despite the wording of > R2127? (Or maybe I'm reading R2127 wrong?) > > (An example of an if-then-else vote might be "If So-and-so votes, I > endorse em, else I vote...".)
A conditional can be written such that there's more than one valid vote that it evaluates to: it's more like having multiple "then"s than an "else". For example, "if player X votes, then I endorse em; if player X does not vote, then I vote FOR". Writing this in terms of "else" doesn't change the fundamental nature of the conditional: it's still evaluating to a valid vote. The PRESENT case is used in situations where the conditional can't be evaluated correctly, e.g. if you try to cast a vote that's conditional on an event that's still in the future at the time the conditional is evaluated, or on information that isn't public. (Or if the conditional doesn't specify what to do at all, which is what would happen in an if- then case that didn't specify an else.) -- ais523
