When I ran for TB as an outsider, I thought that too many doomed-to-fail formal proposals were being made. This year we have done an excellent job of discussing proposals informally and reaching consensus before making the formal proposal. That's why you're seeing 8-1 and 9-0 votes. koko blazed this trail for us with the first and most difficult example last year: the TalkBoard guidelines.

I realize that never reaching the formal proposal stage on an issue means that the TalkBoard has not taken a public stand on the issue. The benefit is that the TalkBoard is more friendly and we can reach better decisions more quickly rather than having to vote on less than fully developed proposals. Reasonable people can have different opinions on whether shooting for an 8-1 or 9-0 vote every time is a good policy, but I believe in it strongly.