dogman_1234 :
Yup. I understand.
I do think that those who vote for the leader, see that individual as responsible and willing to work without going AWOL.
Lets see, instead of co-founders we could call them the committee and rather than Prime-founder the person assuming the role of founder/contact person can be the Chairman. Anyway, the Hoi polloi selects the committee and the committee selects its own Chairman from within its own ranks, this is why there should always be an odd number.
The Chairman/Prime-founder is NOT selected by the Hoi polloi but from within the committee of co-founders by that committee and by whatever method the majority of that committee can agree on. Please only select committee members that you would be happy with as Chairman.
The committee is responsible for making sure its members are all currently active members of the Hoi polloi. If a committee member becomes inactive them the committee should ask the Hoi polloi for a new committee member, making sure to maintain the committee at an odd number. Remember, the Chairman must be a committee member and the committee are all members of the Hoi polloi.
It's really not all that big a deal, it's not like we are trusting this person with money or something like that. This is just some way of preventing our founder from leaving us in the lurch again. We are replacing a king with a committee but others require a single point of contact. Thus a psudo-person and a psudo-identity that can be filled by an available person for reasons of contact with Toms or any other entity that feels like they are too good to just come into the forum and discuss whatever needs discussing.
If, at a later date, it is felt that stricter regulations are needed then we can deal with it thru this fundamental governing body. We can make rules more strict, require qualifications, etc. depending on committee recommendations to the Hoi polloi. I don't feel we need any of this stuff at this time because only a small number of the Hoi polloi actually participate in the forum anyway so a majority is unlikely.
Just put some names up for committee membership and agree on an odd number of members. Just agree or you can put up a poll for voting if enough complain about the simpler method. Pick the 3 or 5, or whatever, with the most votes. I have no idea how you would control who votes in that or who would administer it.