BUIP049: Amend AoC to change membership period Proposer: Windowly Submitted on: 2017-03-18 Status: draft
So far, a certain number Bitcoin Unlimited members haven't felt that they needed to vote every time there was an election. Probably in most cases, they feel that BU is in good hands, and just want to be there to steady the boat if some major change is proposed or it looks like the Bitcoin Unlimited project is heading in the wrong direction.
Notably, neither Roger Ver (who runs the first Bitcoin Unlimited pool) or Hiayang (the founder and CEO of ViaBTC) voted in the last election. As the rules now stand, this would mean that if they don't vote in the next 8 1/2 months, they would loose their membership and have to rejoin.
Bitcoin Unlimited was created to give all stakeholders a say. Although elections are incredibly important and members should seek to participate actively at all times, members shouldn't be overly penalized for either not realizing there is an election or not caring about voting on the latest membership BUIP or conference BUIP. This rule change gives a grace period so that stakeholders who have been invited to to join our community can still weigh in at crucial times without having to needlessly miss a vote while they are re-inducted.
In Article 2 of the Articles of Confederation the words,
"Member: an individual who is invited (by BUIP) to join the Confederation, signs this document, and has joined or voted within the last 1 year."
shall be struck out, and the following words put in their place,
"Member: an individual who is invited (by BUIP) to join the Confederation, signs this document, and has joined or voted within the last 5 years. However, an individual who has not voted within the last year shall not be considered a member of the quorum."