can't parse the etch rc policy

[Justin Pryzby <justinpryzby@users.sourceforge.net>]

The etch rc release policy [0] says, regarding log files:

  "they shouldn't fail if the package is removed-but-not-purged"

But I can't parse that; what is "they" ?

Justin

[0] http://release.debian.org/etch_rc_policy.txt