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Entertainingly, excluding a directory from PR approvals is not an option GitHub provides out of the box

Then don't do approvals. Comment "approved" and if someone merges without someone else commenting "approved" someone gets mad at them.

One can always work around tools limitations. The limitations tell us something about how the creators intended it to be held, however

You don't have to hold a tool the way its creator intended. Do you call yourself a hacker?