Reapproving approved proposals

This is more of a 
procedural question here, touched off by our reopening the indexterm debate. 
Months ago, we spent weeks debating, compromising and writing up proposals, DTDs 
and language reference material for indexing enhancements. We voted twice to 
approve this. But now the whole thing is reopened for debate and it looks like 
everything is up for grabs again. 

 

What does it mean 
to approve something, if it can come apart at any time?

 

Chris