response 50 of 79:

Feb 10 13:53 UTC 2004

Instead of involving voteadm and the board in whether a proposal is
"voteable" or not, I'd prefer a process that leaves control of that
in the hands of the members themselves.  How about something like
this, added to the bylaw on member proposals:

    In order for a member proposal to be voted on, at least
    10% of the membership must endorse bringing the proposal to
    a vote.  Endorsement shall consist of a statement by the
    member in the proposal item, agreeing that the proposal
    should be voted on.  A member may withdraw his or her
    endorsement at any time prior to the start of voting.

This is an online analog of the petitions required by various
states to get issues on the ballot.

I mean, voteadm might think that something shouldn't be voted on,
or the board might think that something shouldn't be voted on, but
if 10% of the members think it should, then it probably should.
On the other hand, if the proposer can't even get 10% of the
membership to agree that it should be voted on, it probably
shouldn't.

The sentence about withdrawing endorsement covers the case where
a member likes the first version of the proposal but not the
final wording.