AIP-523: Dissolve The Web3 Development Working Group

Active Proposals AIP Drafts
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PROPOSAL NAME

Dissolve The Web3 Development Working Group

TEAM DESCRIPTION

@SmartAPE | DAO member [Trust Level 3] | writer-of-many-words

I am an indie software developer who has been in the games industry as a gamer and game dev for over 40 years. I have designed, developed, and published over a dozen games during my career.

My first game, Battlecruiser 3000AD (aka BC3K), was a ground-breaking game that was ahead of its time. Published by Take Two interactive in 1996, it was one of their portfolio titles when they went public in 1997. So, you could say that I helped the company succeed to where it is today.

Over the decades, I have worked with some of best software developers and publishers around the world, and my works have been featured in various online and print magazines around the world.

I am also a lifetime member of the International Game Developers Association, and was Florida chapter board member for several years.

You can learn more about me on my professional LinkedIn page.

PROPOSAL DESCRIPTION

This proposal was split from the original AIP-466: Proposal To Close Non-Essential Working Groups which was tagged “Returned for Reconstruction”:

This AIP Idea was tagged as “Needs Administrative Review” and sent to the Special Council. Upon careful review, the proposal has been deemed “Return for Reconstruction”. In doing so, the Special Council cited:

  • Could you please resubmit this proposal as individual proposals for each specific Working Group, referencing the charter for each one?
  • Please remove any references to clawbacks from the resubmissions.

This proposal suggests the following:

  1. Close the Web3 Development Working Group AIP-376: Working Group Charter - Web3 Development
  2. Terminate the contracts of all stewards in the aforementioned working groups
  3. Perform an orderly wind down of any/all ops related to the aforementioned working groups

To date, and with the exception of this newly created working group, these Working Groups have been largely ineffective in their mandate.

Further, as per the Q1/24 financial reports which we all knew would be bad (and we have yet to see Q2 & Q3), it’s clear that the treasury has run out of disposal funds. Ape Foundation Transparency Report - 2024 - Q1

The current yearly budgets based on an approved 6-month budget for the Web3 WG is $1,292,000 per year Web3 Development Working Group Budget 2024

Collectively, all three working groups are costing or will cost the DAO almost $3M per year

The DAO created these working groups. And the DAO is well within its actions, activities, and purview to close them as per AIP-239: Working Group Guidelines & The Governance Working Group Charter

wg_dissolution

BENEFIT TO APECOIN ECOSYSTEM

Closing the working group has the following benefits:

  1. The DAO immediately saves money
  2. The DAO can re-purpose LESS funds to hire/contract experienced third-parties who have a lot more experience in the specific areas previously outlined in this WG charter.
  3. The DAO no longer has to deal with the distractions, funding, and down time associated with elections as well as the budget proposals and voting for these working groups.
  4. The GwG and the SC advisors can focus on specific mandates which are beneficial to the smooth operation of the DAO.
  5. The GwG and the SC advisors can hire and contract third-party teams and corps on an as-needed basis. This also provides the flexibility of being able to switch teams if they fail to perform as expected.

STEPS TO IMPLEMENT

Upon passing of this proposal, the following are to take immediate effect, and the Ape Foundation is directed to take the following actions:

  1. To TERMINATE the contracts of all the stewards in the working group, and with a minimum of 30-days notice given to the affected stewards.
  2. To pay in full, to affected stewards, any/all amounts that are in arrears. With the exception of payments due with the aforementioned 30-day period, these payments are for that which are in arrears only, and not a contract “buy out” of future payments.
  3. To put into effect an orderly wind-down of the operations of any/all activities and entities (e.g. sub-DAOs) associated with the affected working groups as per AIP-239: Working Group Guidelines & The Governance Working Group Charter

Going forward, and on an as-needed basis, this proposal grants the following to the Ape Foundation:

  1. Put up RFPs for activities and work which were previously required to be performed by the aforementioned working group. Such RFPs would be based on RFP revisions approved in AIP-401.
  2. As per the RFP, hire third-party teams which would be directed to handle all activities previously performed by this WG, and in much the same manner that it hires and contracts attorneys, accountants and other third-party teams and entities needed for its day to day business activities.
  3. As per the RFP, without the need or requirement for any additional stewards, the Ape Foundation manage and co-ordinate the consulting and hiring of any third-parties selected by the RFP to perform the required roles with specific KPIs and OKRs which are to be shared with the DAO community.
  4. As per above, a new Discourse category called “Job Description” related to either a work for hire request or an RFP so that the DAO community can have the opportunity to participate in such hiring opportunities.

REPORTING EXPECTATIONS

The expectation is that this proposal would be implemented by the DAO’s administrative team. The community should regularly review the impact of this proposal. If accepted, the administration and the community should review the impact of the updates after the 3-month period for conflict ends.

OVERALL COST

Total amount requested from the ApeCoin Ecosystem Fund = A maximum of 200,000 $APE per year would be allocated as the total budget for the activities previously associated with this working group. This budget can only be revised via a proposal by either the GwG stewards or the Special Council.

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Please don’t. Was planning to go on the upcoming steward election.

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:point_right: Ape Foundation Transparency Report - 2024 - Q1

In any financial setting, when low on funds you take steps to extend the financial runway. And that means, cutting staff, projects etc. This is standard practice. Even Yuga - with over $450M to burn -did two rounds of layoffs for specifically those reasons.

Just because you were planning to run for a position doesn’t change the DAO’s financial situation. Regardless, at the end of the day, it’s up to the DAO to make the final determination.

ps. This particular WG - which predates the Banana Bill - has no plausible reason to exist.

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Is sad but true …
Then I might need to find out Banana Bill is still looking for hiring

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There are many Web3 teams which have proposals passed and who are hiring. I am sure that you will be able to find something. Just use the categories filter, search for completed proposals, then go through the ones which may be doing something that is within your skillset.

In fact, when I designed my AIP-487: ApeCoin Community Engagement Platform proposal, it was specifically designed to hire people from here because I recognized the need to give back to some of our talented friends who otherwise wouldn’t have a proposal pass etc. But, as I said over here, even though I moved it to BB, it’s likely dead there because now it’s a white label platform that’s being deployed on any chain that wants to license it. So, that’s the end of that. At least I can say that I tried.

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Talked about in other groups, but given Web3 has not taken a budget, less relevant.

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Right. But doesn’t the formation still allow them to setup their entity, put a budget together etc? Seems like a lot of work for a WG that’s likely to be closed.

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@romantik while I understand that this WG still isn’t fully functional anyway, I will moving towards step #3. All things considered, while I believe that your contributions to the DAO are invaluable, I thus far have found no plausible reason for this WG to exist. To that end, as the proposal indicates, it will be up to the GwG to move forward with RFPs to fill these positions as-needed.

  1. It gets extended as fact-finding continues
  2. It gets withdrawn if responses are satisfactory
  3. It goes to vote where the final deposition is up to the DAO
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Hi @SmartAPE,

The community feedback period for your proposal would be ending in less than 24 hours.

  • If you’re content with the feedback received, your next steps are to finalize your proposal using the AIP Draft Template.

  • A moderator will reach out to the author to finalize the AIP Draft. Upon receipt of the final Draft, we will review and provide instructions on the next steps.

  • Are you ready to proceed to the next phase or do you wish to extend community discussion for another 7 days?

We look forward to hearing from you.

-@Facilitators

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The proposal is already in final draft format. Please proceed to draft.

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Well, only a few months ago, the majority of the DAO votes concluded that it does have a reason to exist. It is a bit odd move to try to unwind AIPs that just got passed, IMO. And on top of that, to rug WG right after the stewards elections, nice :slight_smile:

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It’s a lot more nuanced that that. For one thing, it predates the BB.

To me, I don’t see any benefit to this WG because there’s nothing in its charter that tells me that it’s going to be effective nor do anything consequential to the DAO.

Let me quote from AIP-376: Working Group Charter - Web3 Development

Rationale

We need a hub for anyone with interest or domain expertise to gather, share knowledge and ideas, collaborate on AIPs, and explore the incredible possibilities of web3 development, hackathon events and Y-combinators. The Development Working Group will be the DAO’s hub to gather creators, builders, and developers on a regular basis and support community-led initiatives that help fulfill our charter.

The Development Working Group would be responsible for the following:

  • Supporting builders in the ApeCoin DAO.
  • Build projects that add value to the ApeCoin DAO and communities with vested interest in ApeCoin.
  • Providing regular updates to the DAO community on the group’s operations and its outcomes.

OKRs to complete before Funding Window:

  • Develop a strategy for the development of projects that generate income for the ApeCoin DAO.
  • Lay the groundwork to build ApeCoin focused projects for the web3 ecosystem.
  • Lay the groundwork for various web3 projects and ideas we can invest in.

We already have all that via the GwG small grants program which, as of this writing, has been running just fine. Then there’s ThankApe. Not to mention Banana Bill. So, why then do we need yet another WG that’s going to not only create more friction, splintering of effort, but also cost the DAO money that is largely unrecoupable?

Then there’s the budget AIP-518: Web3 Development Working Group Budget

That doesn’t look like an effective WG plan to me.

Also, it’s not a rug as that would imply that it was actually doing something prior to being shut down. Besides, with 53%, it barely passed.

Again, it’s not personal and the final decision doesn’t lie with me. The DAO voted for it, and the DAO gets to make the final determination as to whether or not to keep it running. And also, once the budget is up for vote, it will have to pass the $250K / 69% threshold. I highly doubt that’s going to happen.

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

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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

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

This proposal has been assigned the AIP ID Number 523.

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

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

1 Like