RQ1 Informe
Quorum Design & Governance Cliffs
Where are the hidden cliffs in quorum design?
There’s a narrow band in quorum design where governance collapses. Turnout holds steady near 22%, but moving quorum past 10–15% causes a cliff — not a gradual decline — in proposal passage.
Core paper RQ1 + scale analysis (Experiments 01, 03, 08).
Por qué es importante: Most DAOs set quorum by gut feel. A 5-point miscalibration can silently kill governance.
Qué hacer
- Set quorum from observed turnout data, not aspirational targets. A practical rule: ~80% of natural turnout.
- Start low (4–5%) and adjust upward from data, not downward from failure.
- Use delegation to boost effective participation before raising thresholds.
Términos clave
- Quorum
- The minimum percentage of eligible voters who must participate for a proposal vote to count. If turnout falls below quorum, the proposal fails regardless of how those who did vote chose.
- Quorum Reach Rate
- The percentage of proposals that met the quorum threshold. A reach rate of 82% means 82 out of every 100 proposals got enough voters to produce a valid result.
- Turnout / Participation Rate
- The share of eligible members who actually cast a vote on a given proposal. A 22% turnout means roughly one in five members voted.
- Pass Rate
- The percentage of proposals that were approved by voters, counting only proposals that reached quorum.
- Voter Retention
- The fraction of voters who continue participating over consecutive voting rounds. High retention means voters are engaged long-term, not just showing up once.
- Voter Fatigue
- The gradual decline in voting activity that occurs when members face too many proposals or overly complex governance demands.
- Delegation
- A mechanism where a member assigns their voting power to another member (a delegate) who votes on their behalf, boosting effective participation without requiring every member to vote directly.
Lo que mostraron los resultados
15-Point Cliff, Not a Slope
At 5% quorum, 99.9% of proposals pass. At 10%, 82%. At 20%, 25%. At 40%, zero. The drop is catastrophic, not gradual.
2Voters Agree — They Just Don’t Show Up
Pass rate among proposals that reached quorum stayed 97–98%. The bottleneck is turnout, not disagreement.
3Bigger DAOs, Lower Turnout
Scaling from 50 to 500 members dropped participation from 26% to 22%, while pass rate actually rose. Size dilutes engagement.