Zulq Alam wrote:
> Can you explore the scenario where the board goes against the majority 
> view? I think in practice it will be quite difficult. If it never 
> happens this becomes less an opinion poll, more a defacto binding 
> referendum. I'm not saying this is good or bad, I just want to get a 
> better idea of how it will work in practice.

There are situations where I can imagine this. For example, if a poll 
about removing underscore assignment would end up with a small majority 
in favor of removing it, I would likely vote against the proposal 
because I think language changes require a large majority of the 
community to be in favor of the proposal. Whether the board as a whole 
thinks the same is of course a different matter but it is one example 
where I can imagine the board making a decision that goes against the 
majority opinion in a poll.

Another reason why the board may decide differently is if the 
participation is very low - if nobody cares about an issue enough to 
participate in a poll then obviously the issue isn't quite as important 
as people were making it, so the board should be free to make any 
decision that seems in the interest of the community.

I don't expect any of this to be the day-to-day operation of course; 
this is reserved for controversial issues but the controversial issues 
are exactly those where larger concerns can play a role and may lead the 
board to make a decision that is not representative of the poll result.

Cheers,
   - Andreas