AIP History: Let's Talk about Abstaining

General
1

GM ApeCoin Community,

I’m trying out new ways of disseminating information about past voting history that I believe to be pertinent, relevant, and informative. If you have comments or feedback please DM them to me.

Today, I wanted to talk about Abstaining in voting. The option to “Abstain” in voting was implemented courtesy of AIP-200. But have you ever really paid attention to how many voters and/or how much $APE is spent Abstaining on votes? Ever thought of the possibility that there may have been enough $APE that had Abstained that could of changed the outcome of an AIP? Or, even crazier to think, that more $APE voted to Abstain that the combined $APE voted FOR and AGAINST?

Let me tell you, it has happened before, more than you think and more recently too.

The following is a chart that highlights several AIPs in which the amount of $APE Abstaining was higher than the voting outcome of said AIP.

AIP Start of Voting For Against Abstained Notes:
AIP-409 4/4/2024 563,467.05 1,574,305.91 6,888,028.32 Mocaverse had abstained which accounts for 6.3M $APE. Additionally, 84 wallets were in Favor, 81 wallets were Against, and 21 abstained.
AIP-292 9/17/2023 3,494,917.90 859,036.91 5,736,532.99 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-299 8/31/2023 3,904,468.92 2,420,807.90 3,938,779.11 Only ~34k $APE more voted to Abstained than FOR.
AIP-256 6/1/2023 2,246,255.61 66,123.61 3,430,472.13 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-245 6/1/2023 2,204,893.62 294,593.52 3,458,219.92 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-238 6/1/2023 116,308.59 2,190,250.22 3,641,930.46 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-233 5/4/2023 200,203.48 730,201.15 2,534,720.92 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-215 4/27/2023 1,701,649.93 391,586.14 2,961,039.49 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-232 4/20/2023 280,361.30 2,973,571.58 3,851,037.79 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-225 4/20/2023 1,079,557.02 2,291,045.09 4,089,175.57 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-219 4/20/2023 970,030.42 2,306,090.94 3,706,592.06 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-221 3/30/2023 71,221.87 3,260,078.13 3,581,941.79 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.
AIP-118 3/30/2023 422,404.06 1,667,076.04 4,361,082.49 More APE voted to Abstain than the combined APE voting For and Against.

In addition, the following chart highlights which AIPs (exclusive of those above) had enough $APE abstaining to change the outcome of the AIP.

AIP Start of Voting For Against Abstained
AIP-222 4/6/2023 3,437,447.78 5,004,499.60 1,702,809.89
AIP-230 4/13/2023 3,865,650.80 2,506,333.03 1,994,244.15
AIP-239 4/20/2023 4,121,824.69 3,268,824.52 2,704,655.41
AIP-209 5/11/2023 5,910,425.63 4,091,995.79 2,558,483.13
AIP-224 5/18/2023 161,246.40 3,693,364.73 3,612,783.40
AIP-179 5/18/2023 794,163.17 3,063,929.04 2,291,311.31
AIP-195 5/25/2023 548,454.37 2,079,155.61 1,867,124.07
AIP-244 5/25/2023 244,855.77 2,091,345.36 2,020,579.25
AIP-242 7/26/2023 1,776,391.60 2,337,356.58 1,569,337.87
AIP-299 8/31/2023 3,904,468.92 2,420,807.90 3,938,779.11
AIP-292 9/07/2023’ 3,494,917.90 859,036.91 5,736,532.99
AIP-334 10/19/2023 9,366,556.24 9,440,735.83 1,827,418.65
AIP-349 11/30/2023 10,031,635.98 10,911,051.13 1,925,357.79
AIP-376 1/18/2024 7,506,413.23 6,540,253.02 2,911,464.73
AIP-409 4/4/2024 563,467.05 1,574,305.91 6,888,028.32
AIP-459 8/1/2024 11,333,655.07 11,585,329.21 699,584.42

As we can see from the charts above, voting does matter and I think maybe we should start taking a look into why so much $APE is spent Abstaining.

For a more comprehesive breakdown of AIP voting history please see my other post: information about voting in AIPs, please see my other post: ApeCoin AIP Information Dashboard

5 Likes
2

Thanks for putting this together. I think that an Abstain vote could harm an AIP from passing, BUT it could also kill an AIP if it voted no. Sometimes an Abstain is better than a no. Just my two cents.

2 Likes
3

My question(s) are then, why vote and what is the message you are senidng?

If these AIPs could have easily swung the opposite way and/or had so much more voting power than the total amount spent on FOR and AGAINST, what is the message these voters have by saying they Abstain.

1 Like
4

I’m neither for or against, but I see you, and want to show you that I’m active.

1 Like
5

I see that logic (especially with numerous sites that breakdown stats of how we voted and how often). But at a certain point if there is more Voting Power spent Abstaining…we have to take a look at those voters and ask, Why aren’t you making a decision? What is the exact reason.

6

In other DAOs abstain usually indicates that I read the proposal, don’t like it or hate it, but am willing to participate for it to make the minimum voting quorum and let the vote final outcome be decided to those who vote yes or no.

3 Likes
7

I dont mind this approach. seems logical, and i am all for reason.

8

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.