I know you guys aren't planning on using google code anymore, but didn't you all start putting up the standards there covering this? They were the Kohana standards if I recall correctly, pretty much verbatim, but standards nonetheless. I think I saw only one objection to a guideline set forth in those standards, and that was regarding the usage of AND over && -- why don't you settle that issue, add the final decision to the standards you currently have up at google code (until the project tools system here is finalized), and move past this issue on to other things?
-m