PEAR Group - Administrative Documents

» Handling Votings and Membership (II)

Published: 22nd March 2004

Note: This document supersedes the administrative document titled "Handling Votings and Membership" from 20th August 2003. No formal voting process has been initiated to back up the acceptance of this document, because no member of the PEAR Group has raised any objections concerning the differences between this document and its successor.

  1. Voting

    When a vote is called, each member can vote "yes", "no" or "abstain". In the case of a tie, the issue is considered unresolved until a compromise can be reached and a positive re-vote is achieved. If half or more of the members choose to abstain, the vote is also considered unresolved.

    Outside of the Group, individual voting shall be anonymous. Published results would appear as:

    4 yes, 1 no, 1 abstention

    Examples (for a 7 member group): 

        7 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain      Pass
    2 yes, 4 no, 1 abstain      Fail
    3 yes, 3 no, 1 abstain      Unresolved (Fail)
    2 yes, 1 no, 4 abstain      Unresolved (Fail)
    Any member can call a vote, but it must be seconded by one other member before the vote can begin. The voting period will begin the following midnight (UTC). Each voting period lasts four days. Votes that haven't been cast by the end of the voting period default to "abstain".

  2. Membership

    Membership is essentially for life. A member can resign whenever they like or can be voted out of the Group by a majority vote of the other members.

    Proposing a new member works the same way. The maximum size of the Group shall be limited to nine members to keep things manageable.

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