While it's nice of Area51 to allow someone to meet their commitment well after the site is public, the reality is that they made a commitment to help the site at the very beginning, and they failed to do so.
This should have some repercussions beyond being unable to select a new commitment until they've fulfilled an old one.
If a user fails to meet their commitment during the site's beta, the commitment should be failed with repercussions, such as one or more of the following:
- removed from their committed list (Thus allowing them to commit to a new proposal)
- reduce their commitment weight when they commit to a new proposal (since they demonstrated that they have a hard time meeting their commitments during beta)
- (possibly) ding the user's area51 reputation some nominal amount
- other suggestions? Add an answer below...
This feature request would both strengthen the intention that a committed person is supposed to help bring up the site during beta and it would make sure that those who fail commitments are not as heavily relied on as their reputation might suggest they should be (according to the current commitment weight calculation).
It may result in fewer commitments, which is a good thing - if you aren't certain that you are both willing and able to provide great content right from the start, you shouldn't be counted on to do so.