I hope Harmony is paying attention to community sentiment about DAOs

[KidCrypto50]

Let me preface this post by saying I’ve been invested in Harmony for over 2.5 years and have quite a lot of money tied up in it. I’m part of a small group of people who own a very significant amount of ONE. We don’t say much but we are involved in the community on a daily basis to ensure our investment is sound. We’ve been confident this a continued hold until recently. Ive never been so close to selling as i am today. The Harmony we fell in love with isnt the same, allow me to explain.

What drew us to Harmony was the team and the technology they had developed and had on the roadmap. Its safe to assume those reasons are why a vast majority of the community were drawn here as well. The tech. Many of us understood the greatest thing about the chain was the heads-down approach the team showed as they dedicated themselves to delivering what they promised. 2 second finality and cheap transactions made us proud to be here. Fastforward to today and the tech appears to not be the focus of the chain anymore.

Adoption has increased and inherently the tech issues have too. I dont need to go into the details as we all are aware of them and how long they’ve plagued the chain now. The community understands how more adoption brings stress onto the chain, but the expectation is to see funding applied to fix these problems. More engineers or whatever is needed to not only keep the network operating at peak condition but to also keep up with blockchain technology in general. This has not happened and instead the tech has taken backseat to social issues. Enter the DAOs.

I can assure you the community isnt happy with the whole social issue focus. Please read this Reddit post from this week asking for community feedback on DAOs. https://www.reddit.com/r/harmony_one/comments/u6gvu3/feedback_needed_daos_on_harmony/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share. The same thoughts can be found on telegram, twitter, etc. This cannot be ignored. A popular opinion is that chains should not be focused or take positions on social or political topics, I completely agree. Tech is king. Tech is what other L1s are focused on and some are on the verge or their already are passing harmony up on blockchain abilities like bridging, fast transactions, multiple shard usage, etc. This is highly discouraging as an investor, tech is where we succeed or fail.

The fact that Harmony has chosen to throw money at DAOs that actually alienate a big portion of their community is frightening, especially when the chain isnt at peak performance and needs top focus on its development. It seems like we as the community can see how most of them are merely cash grabs, but harmony doesnt see it or doesnt care. The 10k DAO thing opened that door wide open. There have been multiple DAOs that have just taken the free money and either walked away or spent it quickly on who knows what. More DAOs pop up every day asking for ridiculous amounts of money, sometimes for issues that have been funded already. The Harmony Education DAO is a perfect example of this. What do you think your community feels about seeing this? Please dont be naive and think because a DAO proposal has a lot of accounts agreeing with it on talk forum that it must be what the community wants. Most of those accounts are created at the same time as the proposal was, and the only time they’ve posted. Anyone can make up as much accounts as they want. Again go read Reddit or hang out on a different harmony social media.

No one has said they dont care about these social issues, im sure many care like I do about some of them. There is a place for DAOs on Harmony for sure concerning these issues, but it shouldnt be the apparent FOCUS of the chain while the network suffers and doesnt keep pace with blockchain tech. Many are asking why these social issue DAOs are getting the funding that could be used to get us out in front of L1s and bring more adoption here. Developers arent going to come here because we champion specific genders, sexual preferences or identities, color, race, etc. They go to chains where the tech is good and can support their projects.

I love Harmony, or i wouldnt be taking the time to write this out. Id just pull my investment and move on. But its not just me who feels like this. The community is speaking loudly and i truly hope harmony is listening and takes steps to regain the focus they appear to have lost. TvL is a decent indicator of the health of a chain. Ignore the community and many will walk because the reason they invested is gone. The ball is in Harmony’s court now, and we are watching.

[Point7C]

I’m really looking forward to the AMA, this is becoming ridiculous

[Loge]

Hello, I really appreciate you being this to light, I wanted to take a second and share my perspective.

I’m a 1.5 year investor and governor on the Creative DAO Q2. Voting ended last week and we have still yet to be added to the MultiSig. The problem though isn’t Harmony itself, it’s the lousy members who won’t reply or even sign simple transactions to get the ball rolling.

Funding can only come once the DAO does it’s part. And sadly that doesn’t seem to be happening. I totally see your point about DAO’s taking funding and running. But basically if a DAO chooses bankrupt themselves, or leave, then that’s their choice and we should have better funding processes

The Tech is there, and (I believe) the Core Team is trying! But when your Core DAO’s can’t move forward even when it comes to a simple multisig transaction, it could be a different problem all together.

In short I agree with you, better funding is needed BUT we can’t dismiss how the community needs to play their part

[KidCrypto50]

Theres a difference in core DAOs and non core DAOs. Im speaking to the non core DAO subject.

[dwb]

I agree that there seems to be some duplication and inefficiency in the DAO funding process. And while I feel a DAO-funding focus is a significant and worthwhile direction that is just one differentiator between Harmony and its competitive L1s, as an investor community and as a technology development community, we do need to be aware of the different perspectives on the bigger picture. I appreciate that you took the time to bring this perspective to light instead of just leaving, @KidCrypto50.

I’m fairly new to the community forums but have been interested and invested for just over a year, and what has drawn me in deeper is the DAO focus, as I do think it has an incredible potential to bring increased transactional activity, press, development and overall adoption to the chain. But I agree that it should not come at the expense of the underlying development of the blockchain itself. Nothing else matters if we cannot scale.

To this point, one of the more important developments in the blockchain space is (in the opinion of many) the zero knowledge tech, and I feel the zkDao may give Harmony a significant opportunity to compete with Ethereum L2s in this area, if well executed.

Based on your concerns, what suggestions do you have to reduce/improve the current stake and process that has been put in place for DAOs on Harmony?

I also hope to see a broader discussion on this matter from the community.

[Krati_Jain]

Isn’t it true that hiring great techies is an unsolved problem. If a DAO is being formed to impart better skills through training and please note, trainers are the top most experts in their own fields, I want to ask how will that not help Harmony in attracting better skilled folks and contribute to improve the tech built by Harmony?

I see there are many investors here who spend a lot of time writing their views on how they don’t want this proposal to go through, I want to ask them how can better tech be built without better trained team members ?

Also, all the new accounts who have supported our proposal are the accounts of our community members (you can find each of them on Twitter and telegram) who chose to join Harmony based on the previous trainings organized by us that they have benefitted from

[dwb]

You’re correct regarding some DAOs, I believe, @Krati_Jain.

The question raised by @KidCrypto50 and others, I think, is this: is giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to “DAOs for the sake of DAOs” creating value for all community stakeholders? If that is what’s happening inadvertently (i.e. - Angel investors accept a large number of failed investments for the sake of a few extremely successful investments) and many of the DAOs are taking the money and running (or just failing to meet expected results), what is the threshold that Harmony should be implementing?

It is a difficult road to walk, because this is “early days”, but eventually the money runs out or goes elsewhere, if the return on investment (ROI) or perception of future ROI is not there.

Vitalik Buterin is perhaps the ultimate champion of creating smart contracts/blockchain technology to aid in the socioeconomic progress of humankind and break down social and economic barriers (in the spirit of Satoshi) without worrying about the financial bottom line (in the sense of “if we build it, it will come!”).

However, there has to be a very carefully thought out strategy that allocates resources according to the realities of the resource pool in relation to the end goals of the project, or it will fail. It’s strategic optimisation.

I wouldn’t want the DAO funding to be stopped cold and I’m not sure that was what @KidCrypto50 was suggesting either, but perhaps the program needs to be reworked. The core technical DAOs clearly add value but we can’t (as a community) fund every whim DAO that is proposed. I’m sure that’s NOT what is happening, and I know the program is being reviewed for improvement (based on the addition of @frwrdslosh not long ago, for one).

I know there are many discussions to be had on many topics, but this one is as vital as any.

[drspinosa]

I read what @Loge said and like to add I am trying to set up a Harmony DAO led company and set up regional DAO.

Both there is a well-paid and high potential outcome, however no one wants to do any works so far until they got paid first or have a salary.

Up to a point I understand why this is happening. People have to pay bills. Also there is an inherit fear of rug pull form web2 TradFi adding to the Web3 rugs. This mentality makes 100x things difficult to happen.

I even think why am I writing this right now I don’t get paid and could I be doing something more productive? Worst there is a likelihood it will not be appreciated or my ideas will be picked and twisted to something else.

I as well many times gave free ideas and not been paid. I have been burnt many times by doing so.

I have invested 2ys on Harmony and some ££. I don’t want to see mainly my time invested to go wasted.

DAOs are necessary however all people just like me are wary of working for free. DAOs to function require a lot of admin atm.

Regards to the Regional DAO I knew it will not work “The Harmony way” so I tried instead of lowering the bar to find a different way to form it. By doing so I have to convince Harmony of the alternative that add more work. Harmony core team being busy it is impossible to have a 2-way dialogue so my idea is refined and aligned to the core values. So, I went back to set up the DAO “The Harmony Way”

I set up all the format and the deliverables and I wrote my candidacy as an example.

I asked all that were interested to do the same only to receive radio silence.

I don’t blame them as I mentioned there is a lot of work to run a DAO and people don’t even understand the simplest thing of being a cosignatory. I event wrote an article about that is safe to give your Metamask wallet for a Multisig and there are no liabilities.

Nothing no feedback form anyone even the most active ones in the group.

Also, if you have deliverables say 1000 subscribers and then you will get paid. Almost no one can be bothered to be honest, it is also boring for me at least.

All these I believe are resulting to some bars to be lowered so DAOs can be formed. which is not good either.

So, what can we do?

People like to be valued and like to see projects finished and don’t feel they are not just part of a machine but can help achieve something great and good.

I proposed the above regional DAO to deliver mini projects with continual feedback.

This is just one experimental idea and may not fit all. Each project must add value even it it is 2 people use harmony and then convince 2 each to do the same and so on. Most likely there should be a “Culture Master” an “Alchemist” a “Scientist” that can help engineer the culture of such DAO. No unnecessary voting’s and endless discussions.

Say like engineering a culture like a team who want to go to the North pole, type of thing and the first thing is to look at a project to design the clothing. (just thinking out loud here)

There must be some form of payment from the planning stage. A payment that can help someone to pay their bills so they can focused on the project.

I know there are bad actors out there.
I also know some projects will become more complex and will require internal and external collaborations but we need to start from somewhere.

Back to the project that @KidCrypto50 mentions.

I also thought that looks like a fund grab. However, I believe at first to always trust people and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Some people many not necessarily have the ability to express well an idea or are shy however they might have something good to offer.

So, I proposed the idea of a funded business plan (10K please for this idea or ONE to &0.70 this summer. Thank you ).
This might sound counterintuitive however I know from personal experience spending endless hours writing a business plan only someone to discard it and then picked my ideas.

Also, I believe in fairness. How many ideas are lost because people don’t have “the luxury” of free time because they need to work to pay their bills. How much creativity is lost.

If we do tap into all creativity hiding in everyone Harmony will grow further I am sure of that.

What is the worst that can happen $10K Is paid to some one or a group to write a business plan and by doing so they inject knowledge into the ecosystem adding value to all do better by using what learned.

Of course this idea is not suitable for all projects/ DAOs. there are more alternative ideas.

By the way I think that project sounds like a money grab unless they radically change their target demographic or willing to do some work towards a collaboration with another DAO.

Final thoughts a well-functioning ecosystem looks after all and doesn’t need 3-legged awareness groups because 3-legged dogs are looked after.

All the Above and more can be happening while

1wallet becomes flawless and intuitive

Inter-shard communication is so automated that I don’t want to know if shards exist and the only thing I experience is my TX of anything happens in milliseconds

ZPK becomes an everyday usable reality

Note: Time spent 1h 52min

[Point7C]

Most of the non core DAOs are a total waste of money and wouldn’t get a 1/100 of the founding in the “real” world because they just don’t make sense.

There are people rotating in different non core DAOs pretending to change the world while throwing house parties with Harmony’s money. They are buying each other shitty NFT’s to boost their metrics to get the next round of fat.

All of this while we still have RPCs issues and a good explorer is just some months away.

I really like Harmony and I genuinely believe it is offering something different in the crowded L1 space. But in my opinion this DAOs thing was and huge failure and the community was scammed.