After having some time to digest everything, I’ve thought about some things that have gone wrong and tried to think of some way to move forward. Name calling and finger pointing only serves the purpose of venting frustrations and doesn’t typically lead to meaningful change. Obviously anything here is my own opinion and my suggestions are nothing more than that.
I can understand why people think core DAOs might be useless but I would disagree and think that even without future guarantees of funding, they can be very useful. IMO, the 3 most important aspects for Harmony to be a successful chain (outside of the work the core team is doing) is to foster a robust community, validator pool, and developer network. If those 3 aspects are growing, Harmony benefits.
I feel the only way to calm tensions in each of these communities would be to offer compensation for time spent by governors on each of the corresponding DAOs (Community DAO, Validator DAO, and Developer DAO). Each council made efforts under the assumption that time spent would be time rewarded. Making good on these payments would be a sign of good faith from core team that these individuals are valued on some level. I would also include the Creative DAO in these payments. These 4 DAOs were not Community created, but instead were conceived and initiated by the core team as core DAOs. Therefore, all affected individuals in these DAOs are ultimately where they are due to the desires and actions of the core team to see them implemented. Even if funding can’t proceed for these initiatives, issuing money owed for all individuals would remove any obligations and would allow for progress. I still think at least the initial DAOs mentioned have a path forward.
The community DAO would benefit greatly from having the funds from the sale of the crazy.one domains available to continue development of the project. When these sales were initially made, it was stated that the funds collected would be for the benefit of the community DAO. Keeping these funds allocated as such would not just give the DAO an avenue to continue work already begun in hopes of making the DAO sustainable, but would be honoring the commitment made to the public by Harmony when putting these domains up for sale. While work has been suspended on this project, the DAO has not given up on it. Even if the funds already collected through sales are not enough to see the project through, there has been discussions on ways to raise funds to continue work on it. Having the funds already set aside for this would be a shot in the arm for the DAO, would allow Harmony to feel it has done what it can to help the DAO succeed, and would remove most negative sentiment within the DAO around feeling left behind by the core team. With the understanding moving forward that the DAO is in complete control of its own fate, it might be exactly what is needed to set the DAO free. If sustainability efforts fail, so does the DAO. End of story.
As for the validator dao moving forward, perhaps the ONE tokens in the treasury that are not currently earning staking rewards or those that are not committed to other means could be used for the validator bootstrap program and if 10mil+ ONE are staked and earning, the rewards from the staking could be earmarked for the VDAO, allowing for a nest fund to establish further sustainability methods. Harmony could set a future date to review the accomplishments of this program, discuss with the DAO on future plans, and decide at that time if the staking rewards delegated to the dao are worthy of continuing. If the DAO cannot make a good case for it’s future at that time, then the end of the program would be justified and Harmony could put the fate of the DAO entirely into the hands of the validators.
As for the developer DAO, I am less familiar with their segment of the chain and it’s daily operations, so my suggestions may not be feasible, but in theory I think I have suggestions if the DAO were open to them. For starters, it has been discussed prior to the funding freeze that the CDAO would be open to hiring the Developer DAO to assist with the completion of the crazy.one domain project. This would take the funding for the project and give it a possible dual purpose of allowing for CDAO sustainability in the future as well as allowing for income for the developer DAO. Another potential way forward for the DevDAO: it has been mentioned on this thread that building on Harmony is difficult for lack of tooling and documentation. I’m sure the core team would benefit from upgrading these things, but perhaps lack the manpower needed. The core team could create bounties specifically for the Dev DAO to improve upon these matters, which would undoubtedly work to serve the dev DAO’s mandates of onboarding devs, benefitting the ecosystem as a whole. This funding would be seen as justifiable by the broader community, I’m certain.
Also, collaboration amongst DAOs could be encouraged. A portion of funds from any future amounts in the CDAO and DevDAO treasuries could possibly be committed to assisting with the bootstrap program, allowing the VDAO to decide with whom the other DAOs’ treasuries could be staked to assist with growing the validator pool. I’m sure there are other possibilities for mutually beneficial collaboration amongst these DAOs that I cannot think of at this moment.
As for the creative dao, it never really got off the ground and honestly, without funding or a sustainability plan in place I don’t know if it has the ability to be stood up as a stand alone DAO. I think it would be fair to pay governors for work done, but perhaps going forward, it could be absorbed by the community DAO as a subDAO since it’s mandates serve the community DAO’s mandate of using creative campaigns of products to attract users. Perhaps some pieces of the CrDAO’s plans that can proceed without funding could be implemented and achieved in the short term. I would like to see the overall plans for the CrDAO be preserved, though, and perhaps revitalized if/when the CDAO can build a treasury. Maybe in the future, initiatives of the CrDAO could be revisited and implemented by way of community vote and use future CDAO funds to see them through. This would pay homage to the long hours and vision of those that have worked on the CrDAO through uncertain times.
I hope these thoughts will be considered and responded to by the core team. I feel that if these ideas could be implemented then there is a possibility that bygones could be bygones and we could move forward with a better idea of what is expected and there would be more clarity as to what can be accomplished and how. The only other request I would make is for Harmony to work towards integrating the full gnosis multisig as its lack of functionality was a major contributor in the DAO’s inability to implement many plans and swaps to stables to secure budgets.
I also hope that the emotion coming out in the posts in these threads can be seen as passion from those that have poured their hearts and souls into this protocol and we can all move forward without personal attacks. If we are to move on from here constructively we ALL need to show empathy and humility, be transparent, treat each other with respect and communicate better.
