This is not a democracy, it's not even a meritocracy, it's tyranny by arrival date, government by those who happened to arrive first and for those who happened to arrive first.
Rubbish. There are currently eight monks with more experience than myself logged on, but only one of them has been here longer than me (11 years). Of the other seven, one of the monks with more experience has only been here nine months.
Experience is indicative of participation, and particularly community-approved participation.