On Wednesday 08 December 2010 13:34:53 Ronald van Haren wrote: > >> and who determines if there is a substantial difference between the > >> two votes (I'm talking about edge cases here)? And what exactly is > >> this substantial difference that is required, how do we quantify it? > > > > Indeed, there are always these questions :-) > > > > And maybe this isn't clear, but "substantive" is a little different from > > "substantial". It basically means that there needs to be a difference of > > value between the two proposals. I.e. the implication of accepting the > > second rather than the first would be, at least in some small way, > > different. > > > > That's my feeling, anyway. > > I'm not a native speaker, but I always thought they could be used > interchangeably. Actually most of the on-line dictionaries don't give > a clear answer about the difference. Either way, we should probably > try to use a different wording if the purpose is to make the document > more understandable.
Sure - I'm all for easily understandable, as long as we're also precise :-) I suppose what I'm after is that the effect of the two proposals must be in some way different. It's not enough just to reword the same thing. So how about: "A rejected proposal may not be presented again before a waiting period has passed. The duration of the waiting period shall be 3 full months UNLESS otherwise stated in a section of the bylaws pertaining to the proposal. The waiting period begins at the end of the voting period. A proposal which is similar to the rejected proposal, but whose effect is in any way different is considered a different proposal, and therefore does not require a waiting period before being presented." Pete.