Committee Proposal Guidelines

Preparing a new proposal

• When preparing a new proposal, it is important to present facts for the proposal only. Try to avoid getting into an emotional mode eg frustrated, panic. If it is possible and relevant, please provide a proof by the blockchain.
  • Example:
    • Assuming 0.15BTS account creation fee
    • In the GUI/CLI wallet, you observe people spamming the network by creating new user accounts and they clearly designed to squat on popular names to be resold later
    • Provide link to blockchain transactions (ie it can be from a GUI web wallet or a CLI wallet output) showing this systematic behavior
    • If you’re technically not capable of showing this data, you can ask a fellow member to assist you that has the necessary technical skills
• There should be at least one week from the time a proposal is created to the proposal’s expiring date/time in the blockchain. There is an exception to this in an emergency situation (see below)
• Provide an avenue for the community to air their views and be prepared to accept a rejection if the majority is against the proposal
• Committee members need to be mindful of the feeling of the community at large. Let the community FEEL SAFE with the power rested in the Committee

Deciding on the new proposal

• All committee members work for a common objective - to serve the Bitshares Community and work for the best interest of Bitshares DAC
• At this point, feedback should already be gathered from the community via a forum post. If the community is showing an overwhelming support for the proposal, it is time for the committee members to discuss and decide
• All decisions are centralised on facts. They need to have clear justification based on facts.
• When a majority is considering a certain decision and you do not seem to agree or unsure, it is alright to voice your disagreement in a polite way. The rest of the members should be open to considering and analyzing new points of view that may improve our overall decision making.
• New proposals will be brought to the community for consideration if at least a quorum of committee members are in agreement of the proposal.

Getting feedback from the Community

1. Make a forum post and introduce the topic, what we think about it and the pros and cons
2. Gather information and community suggestions from the post above
3. Make a second forum post summarising the main agreed and disagreed points from the first post. The second post should include our suggestions and the community’s more relevant suggestions. The second post would describe the characteristic of the proposal to be created - For example the duration before the proposal expires
4. Give the community time to consider the finalised proposal and express their final views and thoughts
5. Make a committee proposal
6. Give the community one week to vote or unvote committee members as their final say to accept or reject the proposal
7. Committee members that are not voting pro or con are required to justify their position (to prevent committee members from not doing their job and just sitting it out)

Emergency situations

• During normal times, one should follow the protocol and allow enough time to the community to consider the proposal
• If a suspension of a specific operation is required it should be backed by justification. It should only be temporary and for a well-defined (estimated) time frame. It should always be accompanied by a proposed solution.
• Since it is an emergency, an urgent response is needed. An emergency proposal could be created within 24 hours, discussion with devs is recommended.
• Examples of emergency situations include, but are not limited to
  • Bugs from blockchain, CLI wallet, or GUI wallet that affect core functionality in an undesirable way
  • Repeatable errors in witnesses’ price feed that can cause harm to participants of the market, only if they cannot be fixed by downvoting witnesses or updating the price feed
  • Spam attacks
  • Other unknown attacks