I say make it as harsh as possible, and bring back the yearly haircut on unmoved balance.
We are claiming to be shareholders in an active company etc etc, so we should be active.
penalize dormant balances.
easy there killer... BTS is different things to different people... no need punishing me because i am not as smart... i cant type computers fast or good like u and dont have access to them like rich americans do... since it takes me more effort and money to change my votes than u then it is not fair for BTS to discriminate against the poor and disabled.....making votes decay over time is enough of a pain in my ass... we need to strike the perfect balance and then make this parameter adjustable within this range so we can continue to perfect
I like Mike Hearn's assessment of how blockchain governance works most efficiently and effectively. Basically, you have one core group of guys, or even one leader in some cases, who make most of the decisions and everyone for the most part just goes along with it and gives their input here and there. However, blockchain governance gives us one, last-resort, fail-safe measure to override the decisions of those core developers if we have to. In the case of bitcoin, there is a network of miners who can override the decisions of the core devs if need be and in bitshares the stakeholders have the power to override the decisions of the core devs, which is more efficient.
I like to think it as insurance - it's something you purchase but hope you never have to use. Hopefully the tree out in my front yard never falls on my car but I'm going to buy insurance just in case it does and if by chance a huge storm comes up and blows that tree over on my car, then I will use my insurance to protect myself financially. It will be a big inconvenience and something I didn't want to have to do in the first place, but at least I was protected.
Same goes for bitshares. As a shareholder I would rather just vote for BM & Co to run the show. They created this project and got it to where it is today, so i dont see any better alternative. I probably won't change my vote for every little change that needs to be made or new feature that needs to be added. However, if the core devs attempt to completely compromise the system for any reason, then I can use my "insurance" to override their decisions along with all other stakeholders. It will be a huge inconvenience to figure out what is going on and how best to use my vote to protect the integrity of the system - and it will likely be ugly and get a little messy, but at least I am protected just in case and we as shareholders can prevent the destruction of the system by a small group of people. However, hopefully things go along business-as-usual and I don't have to take any action.
tl;dr I don't see voter apathy as a big problem, but voters who do not vote for a proxy should have votes expire or decay over time. Most of us will probably just vote for a proxy that goes along with cnx and the vision of bitshares and only use our voting power if serious issues arise. That will be the most efficient and effective way to run this blockchain.