AIP-240: Community Discourse Facilitators

Final AIPs Implemented AIPs
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Proposal Name: Community Discourse Facilitators

Proposal Category: Process

Abstract

This proposal suggests the creation of an ApeCoin DAO Discourse Facilitation team to facilitate the DAO-approved governance process, in addition to maintaining a productive environment within the DAO’s governance platform. The team will be responsible for overseeing the proposal process, moderating discussions, enforcing rules, and promoting positive community engagement based on DAO-approved guidelines. Under this proposal, the DAO will select two Discourse Facilitators via DAO-wide vote, while @Lost.Admin will be seeded as the third Discourse Facilitators, to ensure continuity from the current Discourse Facilitator team. Come August 2023, the responsibility to choose the Discourse Facilitation team will be assigned to the Governance Working group, provided that the DAO votes to approve the Working Groups structure.

Author Description

This AIP is authored by Stewards of WG0: @adventurousape @Amplify @badteeth @Halina.eth @Lost @Vulkan @Waabam

Motivation

Facilitating the AIP process on Discourse is essential to the governance of the DAO.

While this function was performed by the DAO’s previous administrator, the responsibility was transferred to WG0 as a part of the effort to decentralize the DAO.

With WG0’s mandate coming to an end shortly, the DAO must contract new Discourse Facilitators to assume these responsibilities. The team will ensure that the Ape Improvement Proposal (AIP) process continues smoothly, in addition to overseeing that all discussions are productive and aligned with the DAO’s mission and values.

Rationale

Collective Responsibility: We leave everything better than we found it.

During the recent DAO approved transition to new administrators, the responsibility to facilitate the AIP process by administering operations on Discourse was transitioned to the community. This proposal represents the next step in further decentralizing and strengthening our governance process.

Key Terms

Discourse Facilitator: The team of moderators and administrators in Discourse providing operational support and project management support for the Foundation.

Specifications

Through this AIP, the DAO will engage 3 Discourse Facilitators for a period of 4 months. The DAO will select two Discourse Facilitators via DAO-wide vote, while @Lost.Admin will be seeded as the third Discourse Facilitators, to ensure continuity from the current Discourse Facilitator team. Future contracting of Discourse Facilitators will be performed by the Governance Working Group.

The Facilitator role includes, but is not limited to:

  • Reviewing new users’ profiles and posts to Discourse.
  • Troubleshooting user profile issues.
  • Coordinating with authors to move AIPs through the pipeline and informing the community of these updates according to DAO approved guidelines.
  • Creating Draft Analysis Reports (DARs), including a series of questions to authors, for Administrative Review.
  • Coordinating an AIP Status Board via a Project Management Tool.
  • Coordinating amongst themselves as Facilitators.
  • Coordinating with the APE Foundation Administration Team.

Qualifications for Discourse Facilitators:

  • Trust level 2 (Member Badge) on the ApeCoin Discourse.
  • Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with community members, build rapport, and convey complex information clearly.
  • Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and tasks simultaneously, prioritize workload effectively, and meet deadlines.
  • Knowledge of the ApeCoin DAO, with a strong understanding of the AIP process and the APE Community’s vision and values, as well as the key issues and trends in the industry.
  • Patience and empathy, with the ability to listen to community members, understand their needs and concerns, and provide constructive support.
  • Availability and full-time commitment, with the flexibility to monitor the community and respond to issues as they arise, including evenings and weekends if necessary.

Additional Requirements and Information:

  • Discourse Facilitators must complete KYC
  • Discourse Facilitators will be subject to contractual obligations with the APE Foundation
  • Discourse Facilitators may not receive compensation for their role as a Discourse Facilitator outside of that compensation expressly provided for in this AIP.
  • Eligible members of the ApeCoin DAO may not hold either a Steward role, Special Council Role, Discourse Facilitator, or DAO Secretary role concurrently.

Steps to Implement

  • @Lost.Admin will serve as one Discourse Facilitator, and the other 2 will be selected by DAO-wide vote.
  • The Ape Foundation is instructed to prepare a form to accept applications for Discourse Facilitators. The form should go live the same day this AIP is approved.
  • The requirements, responsibilities, and expectations for the Discourse Facilitator position will be announced on Discourse.
  • Once all applications have been received, and KYC has been performed, qualifying candidates will be put to DAO-wide vote.
  • The Ape Foundation is required to prepare contracts for the Discourse facilitators to begin their work, outlining the duties, expectations, compensation, and term.
  • The Discourse Facilitators will coordinate and collaborate with each other, and the Administrative team.

Timeline

  • April 20 - 26: This AIP goes to vote.
  • April 26: This AIP is approved by DAO-wide vote.
  • April 28: Candidates can begin applying for Discourse Facilitator role via Discourse.
  • May 1: @Lost.Admin’s term as Discourse Facilitator under this AIP begins.
  • May 5: Deadline to apply for Discourse Facilitator role.
  • May 6 - 12: KYC processing.
  • May 18 - 24: DAO-wide vote to select new Discourse Facilitators
  • May 25 - 31: New Discourse Facilitators are onboarded.
  • June 1: The 2 new Discourse facilitators’ term begins.
  • August 31: Discourse Facilitator contract officially ends, pending renewal by the Governance Working Group.

Overall Cost

$80,000 USD ($24,000 per month for 3 months, $8000 for 1 month)

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CHANGELOG

2023/04/06 UPDATE:

  • Number of Discourse Facilitators reduced from 5 to 3.
  • Costs adjusted proportionally.
  • Hiring decision-maker changed from Special Council to TBD.
  • Reference to training period removed.

2023/04/13 UPDATE:

  • Included the selection process for the 3 Discourse Facilitators:
    ** Two Chosen by DAO-wide vote
    ** @Lost.Admin seeded, to ensure continuity with current Discourse Facilitation team
  • Updated timeline to reflect current progress
  • Updated budget to reflect changed timeline

2023/04/14 UPDATE:

  • Clarified that Discourse Facilitators cannot also be Working Group Stewards, Special Council members, or fill the DAO Secretary role.
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This is a far more agreeable proposal than a WG structure. It’s something that doesn’t raise big alarms, and it continues to keep active ape community members as moderators on discourse. We are seeing proposals being processed with quicker times now. For the last year, most proposal authors have been affected by delays.

Ontop of the delays of last year, there was a lack of responsiveness, which made the proposal process nearly impossible to navigate. This is no longer the case w/ active ape special council members that are community-facing. I believe the current AIP process can function with this proposal and a few other smart decisions.

I asked chatGPT4 for a summary, potential harm or exploits, and suggestions for improvement.

Proposal Name: Community Discourse Facilitators

Summary: The proposal suggests creating a Discourse Facilitation team for ApeCoin DAO, responsible for overseeing the proposal process, moderating discussions, enforcing rules, and promoting positive community engagement. The team will be hired by the Ape Foundation initially and later by the Governance Working Group.

Feedback: The proposal addresses an important aspect of DAO governance by decentralizing the AIP process and strengthening community engagement. The role, qualifications, and responsibilities of Discourse Facilitators are well-defined.

Potential Harm or Exploits:

  1. Biased selection: The selection process for Discourse Facilitators is not specified, which could result in biased or unfair hiring.
  2. Conflicts of interest: Discourse Facilitators may have personal interests or opinions that could influence their decision-making or moderation practices.

Suggestions for Improvement:

  1. Clearly outline the selection process for Discourse Facilitators to ensure a fair and unbiased hiring process. Consider implementing a community voting mechanism.
  2. Establish a transparent system for community members to report concerns or issues with Discourse Facilitators to minimize potential conflicts of interest.
  3. Regularly review and update the roles and responsibilities of Discourse Facilitators to ensure they stay aligned with the DAO’s mission and values.
  4. Consider implementing a performance review system for Discourse Facilitators, allowing the community or the Governance Working Group to evaluate their effectiveness and make necessary changes.
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Love the proposal like this much (imagine me spreading my arms as far as they could reach)

I have a couple of questions

  1. How will the Discourse Facilitators be selected and how will the community be involved in that process? The proposal mentions that the mechanism for choosing the facilitators is TBD.

  2. Can you provide more details on the process for creating Draft Analysis Reports (DARs) and how the Facilitators will coordinate with authors to move AIPs through the pipeline?

  3. What measures will be in place to ensure that Discourse Facilitators maintain neutrality and do not act on privileged information?

  4. Are there any plans to provide training or support to the Discourse Facilitators to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively carry out their responsibilities? and Will there be any performance evaluations or feedback mechanisms in place for the Discourse Facilitators during their contract period?

Finally where can i apply, gotta get a mutant lmao :joy:

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As one who leans most heavily toward the Discourse arm of our DAO for information, news, questions, concerns and of course, new AIPs, I’m excited beyond words for this proposal. I already monitor Discourse every day as it is, so I see this as a much-needed and important facility for streamlining, responsiveness and transparency.

VERY excited to see what new details emerge, specifically regarding the application process.

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I believe with this proposal, decisions and actions will be executed smoothly and at a faster speed compared to before without any big hiccups. Kudos :+1:

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At the absolute least, it’s a step in the right direction and an acknowledgment of the investment we need to make toward a more comprehensive Discourse infrastructure.

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Couldn’t agree more . Building the right strong foundation will lead to smoother future executions

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Folks - I think what’s been written down is a wonderful start and make a solid base from which to grow.

I couple of thoughts to share:

  1. I notice from the change log that the training period was removed. What’s the background for this? I only ask, as my thinking is that with people in the role for only 4 months, it’s important they are able to ‘hit the ground running’ and deliver value quickly. I would think that a short training period would be helpful to bring people up the learning curve as quickly as possible.

  2. Perhaps related to the above for consideration in the Role section, it may be worth considering including a bullet for Facilitators to collectively document and build a repository to support learning and upskilling of future Facilitators.]

Shall share more thoughts shortly.

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Hi @Waabam - Would you mind sharing some details about why the ‘training period’ was removed? It would be some useful background info to take into account when thinking about any upskilling requirements for Facilitators when they are onboarded.

Thanks

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This seems nice, wondering how the process of selecting the person fit for the role would be transparent? Like the applications will be visible to all or selecting the candidate?
I doubt many people will like their CVs being out there in open ?

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Why not? Genuinely curious. That’s what LinkedIn is.

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Yeah, I agree. I recently watched the Exec Director application process for another project. All very transparent with public applications, Q&A sessions on Twitter spaces and public voting.

If memory serves, there was a requirement for the various applicants to dox to the project team and their fellow applicants, but it was optional to the public.

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Hi @Waabam,

Your topic will be automatically closing in less than 24 hours. Are you content with the feedback received, or do you wish to extend community discussion for a further 7 days?

If we do not hear from you within 48 hours after your topic closes, your topic will be moved straight to the AIP Draft process.

We look forward to hearing from you.

-Amplify

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Not that we are nominating, but if we were, mine would be on @0xSword @CryptoLogically and @ssp1111 — depending on what his future plans are within the DAO and working groups etc.

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True that! But its a dedicated space you know?
In terms of NFTs we all know that how important privacy really is, sharing CV in a public forum might be compromising security for many; personal information of those who are not doxxed

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Yes. Although KYC is important for internal records, I am not in favour of creating any sort of mandate to make that information public.

The reality is, crypto as a whole still poses a variety of risks associated with bad actors using technology to compromise others. However, if a candidate chooses to disclose that information beyond the Foundation and its administration, all the power to them—but this should not be made a requirement.

AC

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What you put in your public application is up to you. You can write your CV in broad strokes and without personally identifiable information. The KYC is just with the foundation/admin, I assume.

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Without a doubt, everything will be much more responsive and efficient.

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Yes it is!
I’m just pointing the thing about public information.