AIP-347: Enable DAO-Wide Voting for Working Group Stewards

Final AIPs Implemented AIPs
1

Proposal Name:

Enable DAO Wide Voting for Working Group Stewards

Proposal Category:

Process

Team Description:

The ApeCoin DAO Governance Working Group is stewarded by Amplify, ALL CITY, and Tigerisfine.

Abstract:

The purpose of this proposal is to give voting rights back to the broader ApeCoinDAO community and its delegations for Working Group Steward positions.

The Ape Assembly was established as a Governance Working Group Initiative outlined in AIP-239, aiming to facilitate Working Group Steward elections. However, with as few as twenty active voters in recent weeks, there are growing concerns about the legitimacy that those elections would carry. Furthermore, we need Stewards who have experience in conducting significant outreach within the ApeCoin DAO community, which only DAO-wide campaigns can provide.

Currently, there will be four new Stewards elected in the upcoming Metaverse and Marketing and Communications Working Group elections scheduled to commence Nov 1, 2023, with approval to execute critical functions for the DAO moving forward.

To address these issues and enhance overall voting participation, this proposal recommends shifting future Working Group Steward elections from the Ape Assembly to a tried and true DAO-wide voting structure.

Benefit to the ApeCoin Ecosystem:

This AIP benefits the ApeCoin ecosystem by ensuring that Working Groups meet their mandates of providing critical functions and services to the DAO, and continuing to provide a voice for the broader ApeCoin DAO community through their ability to vote, while maintaining consistency with all other elections.

This AIP adheres to the DAO’s values of Collective Responsibility and Boldness by taking decisive action to address this issue of representation in Working Group Steward elections, and working towards progress over perfection.

Key Terms: None

Platforms and Technologies:

Nominations will happen on Discourse, and the elections will take place on the ApeCoin.eth snapshot space.

Steps to Implement and Timeline:

In order to address some of the gaps left behind by removing the Ape Assembly’s ability to facilitate elections, the following additional rules will be implemented:

DAO Secretary Position:

The DAO Secretary role will no longer be subject to the Ape Assembly process. Instead, it will remain an Initiative within the scope of Governance with the following additional rules in place:

  1. At the start of each Term, starting July 1st, 2024, the current Stewards of each working group shall collaborate to appoint an individual who will serve as the DAO Secretary.
  2. The Secretary may be appointed or removed from that role at any time by a majority vote of all elected Stewards in a given Term with the outcome of that vote communicated in the ApeCoin DAO governance forum.
  3. The Secretary will remain in that position, as Secretary of the DAO, from the date of appointment until the end of a given Term or until the date at which they are removed from that position in accordance with rule 2 above.

The Ape Assembly:

  1. Working Group Stewards will be elected by a DAO wide vote.
  2. The Ape Assembly will be formed as a committee to support and advise Working Groups.
  3. Criteria to join is no longer applicable. Anyone with 1 APE is welcome to participate.
  4. In the event that a Steward is removed, steps down, or is unable to continue as a Steward, for whatever reason, prior to the end of a Term, a new election must be held to fill any vacant Steward positions.
  5. In the event that nominations or elections for Stewards are delayed, the nomination process and/or elections shall take place as soon as is practicable after the missed Nomination Window or missed Election Window.

The timeline and nominations process for Working Group Stewards has already been announced here: The Metaverse Working Group and the Marketing & Communications Working Group Elections Timing

Given the existing timeline, and the additional rules outlined above, the only material change to Working Group Steward Elections is that they will be on the ApeCoin.eth Snapshot space for the entire DAO to vote on.

Overall Cost:

No cost

3 Likes
2

Perhaps the title should be restructuring of the Ape Assembly

The title is only for part of the content as it covers 3 keys areas which an in essence an update to the scope of the Ape Assembly:

1. Election of Working Groups stewards
“Give voting rights back” - Small point I think it isn’t about giving the rights back as apecoin.eth didn’t have the rights for these roles before as they didn’t exist.

2. DAO Secretary Position
Making it under the GWG stewards and not chosen by an Ape Assembly election.
Seems clear Stewards vote to hire and fire this role so in effect reports to the stewards as a council/board for the vote.

3. Ape Assembly Going forward
AA suggested to be an advisory committee - they can suggest but not power to implement on these matters? What exactly it will have the power to enforce implementation of ideas put forward is unclear.
Criteria would be just one APE to vote. Would this follow still Proof of Personhood? Would they just have a channel in discord for anyone with 1 APE?

DATA
Snapshot - Currently 89 signed up wallets.
Maximum who voted on a snapshot 59 wallets based on proof of personhood.

For transparency
Currently I am the Spokesperson for the Ape Assembly on a 8-10 hours a month basis with a 4 month term and just under 3 months remaining. I did not create this idea and I am not stating what the AA should do, just clarifying the meaning of the AIP idea put forward by a GWG steward.

4 Likes
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This is good first step. Also, it complements my own AIP idea which seeks a much broader restructuring of the AA.

I do need to update mine because I [incorrectly] referenced 9 instead of 5 (?) working group stewards.

@Amplify I do have a question. What happens to the GwG structure? Are these working group stewards still separate and independent of the GwG? This needs to be clear because if they are part of the GwG, then it defeats the purpose of on-going decentralization of the DAO. Plus, we certainly don’t want the GwG be in charge of working groups which, by their very design, are supposed to be autonomous and independent.

1 Like
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I believe he’s talking about the voting rights for the AA roles. In that regard, only a small section of people in the AA had voting rights. This initiative seeks to restore the voting rights for the entire DAO, and not just a small portion. There’s a huge difference between an avg voting record of 718, and the 89 (total registered) currently registered in the AA.

The originally conceived AA didn’t have any power anyway. Plus, it was still under the domain of the GwG. It could, basically, only manage the election of the three proposed working group stewards.

And yes, we’ve had this discussion before. And so, this AIP is a revamp of Amplify’s original AIP idea from this past July. And the AA still isn’t a thing.

I said this from the start. The AA - in its original form - was a good idea in search of a problem to solve.

3 Likes
5

Unfortunately the Ape Assembly became a toxic and demotivating experience for many due to many reasons, but starting with it’s initial lack of structure and details on how it would work.

I do agree that it makes sense to hold DAO wide elections for the Stewards rather than through the Ape Assembly, especially since they will have to be able to get a budget passed.

At this point in time, wouldn’t it be better to just end the Ape Assembly? It doesn’t seem to have much purpose if this AIP passes, especially if there’s no criteria to join. It seems like it would be just unneeded bureaucracy and a waste of $APE. The sentiment around it is not very good. Most people have stopped participating. At this point, it’s done more harm than good. Unless there is a clear roadmap on how to transform it into something productive, it will continue to serve no meaningful purpose imo.

As for the DAO Secretary:

  • There is a conflict of interest in the Stewards choosing the DAO Secretary. According to AIP-239, the DAO Secretary is supposed to act as an oversight and accountability role. It’s like an industry getting to handpick it’s own regulator. Electing a Secretary should be a DAO wide vote.
  • There is also a conflict of interest in the Stewards being able to fire the Secretary. It’s hard for someone to hold someone accountable if they can be fired by those same people. Their removal should be by a DAO wide vote.
  • What is the term for the DAO Secretary? That has never been defined. The Ape Assembly was also responsible for setting any potential term limits.

There is another area that the Ape Assembly is responsible for according to AIP-239, that I don’t think it is equipped to handle in it’s current state.

Do you feel the Ape Assembly can handle this task if this situation happened? If not, maybe the Special Council would be willing to choose the replacement, similar to how they chose 3 of us as WG0 Stewards?

I appreciate your efforts to address the voting issues and look forward to your reply.

6 Likes
6

this is a good first step. I personally want to see the DAO move away from the “vote for hire” set up we currenlty have for most positions.

3 Likes
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Hey Capt - by “Vote for Hire” do you mean the current election process for roles?

If so, do you have any ideas for better options?

If not, would you mind elaborating?

Cheers – SSP

2 Likes
8

Absolutely agree with all of this. It’s specifically why I had been advocating for the AA to be disbanded. My upcoming AIP (just went to draft) is my last ditch attempt to save some aspects of it so that we don’t just end up tossing it all out and admitting defeat. If the AIP fails, then that’s probably the end of the AA as we knew it.

1 Like
9

Hi @Amplify,

Your topic would be moving to the AIP Draft phase in approximately 24 hours. Are you content with the feedback received or do you wish to extend community discussion for another 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.

-@Facilitators

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Hello @adventurousape,

The Assembly has had a rocky start, and is currently being reworked. If we find that it continues to add no value, we will sunset it.

The Secretary, which comes directly from the ENS working group model, is primarily designed for inter-group coordination, managing working relationships and communications across working groups as well as performing administrative duties for the DAO.

Thank you for pointing out this discrepancy, I will adjust the AIP to address it.

1 Like
11

I am content with the feedback, please proceed to Draft phrase.

1 Like
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This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.

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Hi @Amplify,

Thank you for your ideas [and the ApeCoin DAO community for the insightful discussions]. A moderator will reach out to the author to finalize the AIP Draft using the appropriate template. In accordance with DAO-approved guidelines, if the author doesn’t respond within 30 days, the proposal will be automatically transferred to the Withdrawn category, and the author can re-submit the idea. Once the AIP is Drafted and meets all DAO-approved guidelines, it will be published on Snapshot for the official live voting phase at: Snapshot.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments. @Amplify please see your messages for the next steps.

-@Facilitators

15

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Amplify has completed editing their AIP Idea to be their AIP Draft.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

1 Like
16

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

Our team has reviewed and discussed @amplify’s AIP Draft and have sent a list of initial questions. We await answers.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

1 Like
17

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Amplify has responded to our questions and has provided consent to share them in this forum for the community.

1. Please outline the term length and term limits, if there are any, for the Secretary role.

Terms are discretionary and subject to the ApeCoin GWG to decide.

2. “The Ape Assembly will be formed as a committee to support and advise Working Groups.”

2a.) Please elaborate on the details for how this is expected to work and if the Ape Assembly would have any inherent permissions in advising and supporting the Working Groups.

There are no inherent permissions or abilities granted to the Ape Assembly from this AIP.

2b). Please explain how this relationship would work between the separate Working Groups.

The Working Groups are welcome to use the Assembly as a feedback mechanism, or not, if they so choose.

3. “Criteria to join is no longer applicable. Anyone with 1 APE is welcome to participate.” Please elaborate on the process for joining the Ape Assembly, and the roles and responsibilities of the members of the Ape Assembly.

Anyone may attend a meeting and call themselves a member of the Ape Assembly. There are no explicit roles or responsibilities granted to the Assembly through this AIP.

4. Do you consent to share these questions and responses with the community?

Yes!

A DAR package is being worked on and upon completion this AIP will move into Administrative Review. Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

1 Like
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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

We have no further questions for @Amplify. This AIP is now under Administrative Review.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

1 Like
19

This proposal is live for vote on Snapshot. The voting period closes next Wednesday at 9PM EST.

The AIP implementation is administered by the Ape Foundation. Implementation may be immaterially or materially altered to optimize for security, usability, to protect APE holders, and otherwise to effect the intent of the AIP. Any material deviations from an AIP, as initially approved, will be disclosed to the APE holder community.

1 Like
20

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

The voting period has closed for this proposal and it has been accepted with a 96.22% pass rate. The proposal will be passed on for implementation.

Follow this proposal under the AIP Transparency and Execution Category. A new post has been created here, Implementation Update | AIP-347: Enable DAO-Wide Voting for Working Group Stewards, and further updates will be posted.

Thanks,

-@Facilitators