Eyeson is not just a community. It is also a corporation, owned and run by Sean. In a corporation the board of directors make all the decisions because they are the most qualified to do so, and it works. It just so happens that Sean has good judgement in who he chose, and, in turn, the people they chose and continue to choose to run the community.
Is this 'fair'? I think so. Consider the alternative, that this were run like a true democratic community. The leaders are elected by the members and there is a system of checks and balances in place. First of all, this place is way too small and insignificant to even maintain a system of this magnitude, but we'll ignore that. There are other things to consider.
Age. There are some exceptions, but in general younger people are much more immature than older people. This is because experience brings wisdom. There is a reason why you have to be 18 to vote in the US or 35 to be president, young people are not yet mature enough to make those kinds of important decisions. This is a forum of teenagers. The median age here is something like 16, while the median age on staff is probably around 21. Giving this kind of power to underdeveloped minds is a recepie for disaster.
Forum experience. How much of a vote should newbies get? Is it really fair to let someone here for two weeks get the same input as someone who has been here for four years? Can we expect the same quality of decision from each member? I don't think so. Then what? Give the long term members more of a vote? That's just more favortism, the item I believe we are trying to avoid.
Popularity. In just about every government on earth there is corruption. Here it isn't so bad, since none of the members can really offer staff people anything of value. But add voting and checks and balances to the mix and you'll get people vying for popularity more than ever. Everyone will be out to get support for their personal agendas rather than just enjoy themselves with the system already in place.
The way things are is best. Like Cap said, we are human, and we will make mistakes, but believe it or not we do consider public opinion in our decisions and do have the best for the community in mind.
