# On Voting without Publishing a Rationale **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** proposal, delegates\ **Created:** [June 24, 2025, 8:03am UTC](https://forum.scroll.io/t/on-voting-without-publishing-a-rationale/892 "2025-06-24T08:03:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![connormcmk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forum.scroll.io/connormcmk/32/58_2.png) [@connormcmk](https://forum.scroll.io/u/connormcmk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 8:03am UTC](https://forum.scroll.io/t/on-voting-without-publishing-a-rationale/892/1 "2025-06-24T08:03:16Z")
Hi my friends and scroll delegates! I wanted to get your feedback on something. Recently I voted on a couple of proposals without publishing a rationale about the reasoning for my vote. I didn’t have time due to other commitments to evaluate the proposals in depth, so I just sort of vibe voted based on a quick glance at the forums. I had considered abstaining instead of voting, since my vote didn’t add much substance to the discussion. I’m curious your perspective of what would have been best to do, should I have: 1. voted, but made sure to put in the effort to [create a rationale](https://forum.scroll.io/t/publishing-rationales/556) 2. vote anyway, even if I haven’t developed a rationale 3. abstain, since my vote isn’t adding anything new I’m curious your perspective on this! ---
**Author:** ![jkm.eth](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forum.scroll.io/jkm.eth/32/389_2.png) [@jkm.eth](https://forum.scroll.io/u/jkm.eth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.scroll.io/t/on-voting-without-publishing-a-rationale/892/2 "2025-06-24T13:55:09Z")
Having submitted proposals before, it is extremely frustrating to see people vote “no” when they haven’t taken the time to really understand the proposal. Similarly, it can be very dangerous to vote “yes” without understanding all the implications! This makes me think abstaining is the correct course of action if you feel you haven’t had the time to properly understand the proposal. If you scan it quickly and see a red flag that is enough to warrant a “no” vote, you should certainly vote that way! But then you should post a (brief) rationale explaining that you voted no for that one reason. ---
**Author:** ![kevinknielsen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forum.scroll.io/kevinknielsen/32/216_2.png) [@kevinknielsen](https://forum.scroll.io/u/kevinknielsen)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://forum.scroll.io/t/on-voting-without-publishing-a-rationale/892/3 "2025-06-24T14:23:52Z")
Largely agree with @jkm.eth here. Voter apathy is a well-known problem in DAOs, and we often see it manifest in blindly voting for or against proposals. We think there’s a bit more nuance here, though. A delegate should abstain if they don’t properly understand the proposal, yes. But for someone who is very involved in the DAO and they truly understand the proposal, its comments, its implications, etc., we don’t see any issue with voting without posting a rationale. That comes with the caveat that this isn’t a regular practice and should be seen as a “grace period” for active delegates. The ideal, of course, is to be informed, vote, _and_ post your rationale. But in the case where you’re very time-limited, the third action could be omitted under those specific circumstances ---
**Author:** ![connormcmk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forum.scroll.io/connormcmk/32/58_2.png) [@connormcmk](https://forum.scroll.io/u/connormcmk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://forum.scroll.io/t/on-voting-without-publishing-a-rationale/892/4 "2025-06-24T20:11:18Z")
This is helpful feedback, thank you @jkm.eth and @kevinknielsen These make sense to me too, I’ll do that next time > [@jkm.eth](#): > > This makes me think abstaining is the correct course of action if you feel you haven’t had the time to properly understand the proposal. > [@kevinknielsen](#): > > The ideal, of course, is to be informed, vote, _and_ post your rationale. But in the case where you’re very time-limited, the third action could be omitted under those specific circumstances Curious to hear other perspectives, too ---
**Author:** ![twinFin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forum.scroll.io/twinfin/32/204_2.png) [@twinFin](https://forum.scroll.io/u/twinFin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 6:35am UTC](https://forum.scroll.io/t/on-voting-without-publishing-a-rationale/892/5 "2025-06-27T06:35:41Z")
Interesting question! it reminds me of the ‘Optimistic Approval’ approach (having only veto power) too. I agree with all the ideas above, and I think it is more of a personal preference. I prefer to abstain if I don’t have a full understanding, just to differentiate it from a ‘yes’ that I really agree with (since there is no ‘hell yes’ option). For me, ‘yes’ and ‘abstain’ are sort of one team, and ‘no’ is the opposite team.