AIP-199: Hire Independent Ethics Managers

Proposal Name: Ethics Managers for Ape Coin DAO

Proposal Category: Ecosystem Fund Allocation

Abstract | Two or three sentences that summarize the proposal.

The fund has recently been plagued by bad actors misusing and taking advantage of current Ape Coin DAO Rules. Hiring Ethics Managers will allow for there to be a complete ethics review of all votes and proposals before implementation.

Author Description (mandatory if the AIP is requesting funds) | A brief background of yourself

I am the Director of Partnerships and Marketing Co-Lead at Sappy Seals/Pixl Labs. I have experience in ethical management, as well as governance. With my background, and using other independent manager we can bring equality and justice back to the DAO.

Team Description (mandatory if the AIP is requesting funds) | A brief background of your team involved, if any

The team will be comprised of people who own less than 5 Yuga Labs assets, have a proven track-record of ethical decisions, and have a vested interest in furthering Web3.

Motivation | A statement on why the APE Community should implement the proposal.

To turn the public image of the Ape Coin DAO around, alleviate controversy, and instill equitable + ethical governance.

Rationale | An explanation of how the proposal aligns with the APE Community’s mission and guiding values.

The DAO was created to prop up builders, not a select few who can game the system. This role will allow for further reviews from independent contractors.

Key Terms (optional) | Definitions of any terms within the proposal that are unique to the proposal, new to the APE Community, and/or industry-specific.

N/A

Specifications | A detailed breakdown of the platforms and technologies that will be used.

N/A

Steps to Implement | The steps to implement the proposal, including associated costs, manpower, and other resources for each step where applicable.

Step 1. Approve Proposal

Step 2. Onboard ethic reviewers

Step 3. Review current structure

Step 4. Suggest improvements

Step 5. Review proposals/votes as needed

Timeline | Relevant timing details, including but not limited to start date, milestones, and completion dates.

Six months for review to be complete

Overall Cost | The total cost to implement the proposal.
$300,000/yr to fund the team


Proposals submitted to the AIP Ideas category can be vague, incomplete ideas. Topics submitted here are not required to be submitted as a formal AIP Draft Template, however, you may still use the template if you wish.

Hey @camol, how large of a team would this proposal involve?

9 Likes

A couple of questions on this:

  1. For the unfamiliar, which rules are you referring to that have been misused and taken advantage of in particular?

  2. While I don’t necessarily disagree with the proposed team “own[ing] less than 5 Yuga assets,” what is the intention behind this clause? Also, less than 5 assets apiece? 5 assets owned amongst the entire team?

  3. What does a “proven track record of ethical decisions” mean to you? How is that being gauged?

  4. Where does the $300k figure come from, and how many individuals do you propose comprise this team?

  5. What benchmarks, if any, would be set to determine the efficacy of this team? How are we measuring their progress?

16 Likes

Hi @camol! Thank you so much for submitting this proposal.

I do have a few questions:

  • How will you find the members for this team? Will they be voted on or will you be selecting them?
  • What current structure would they be reviewing and suggesting improvements on (i.e. proposal process, voting)?

  • What would they be looking for?

  • How will you determine if a review is needed?

Thanks again! Look forward to your reply!

9 Likes

This is a solid list of questions imo. On point 3 is there some ethical framework you’ll be using? Can you talk more about how you’ll determine what fits inside/outside how you’re defining ‘ethical’ @camol ?

6 Likes

I think the biggest obstacle to implement this idea is as follows:

  1. In order for any type of ethical evaluation, all facts about proposals and authors must be on the table.
  2. This means that in order to properly evaluate potential conflicts of interest (and, more importantly, catch undisclosed conflicts of interest) the authors and benefactors would have to fully dox.
  3. Further, investigations into potential connections or claims of ethical impropriety will take time, and talent to investigate. This could theoretically make vetting proposals expensive and cumbersome.

I love the idea of having some sort of ethical guardianship, but I can’t fathom a way to be thorough and effective without being a hinderance to the overall process.

That being said, I am not necessarily against it - I just think that it is important to both consider and communicate all facets of a process change like this, so everyone has a chance to fully consider before they vote.

6 Likes

I second all of these inquiries. Thanks @CryptoLogically

6 Likes

@camol I’m happy to see you getting active here. A majority of us are in agreement in terms of the “remodeling” if you will, of the internal systems placement for the DAO as a whole, and as we usher in the new Special Council members, they are bringing in a large scale push to get our APEsh!t tight, if you will.

At THIS particular moment, I want to see what systems, checks and balances come into play within the next few months. This may be a double spend item that certain systems may address without the additional spend.

5 Likes

I concur, I would like to see a graphic format created for easy explanation of current structures’ checks and balances, as well as something people could use for proposals.

3 Likes

Five members and would scale as needed!

2 Likes

Hi @camol! Thank you so much for submitting this proposal.

I do have a few questions:

Step 2. Onboard ethic reviewers

  • How will you find the members for this team? Will they be voted on or will you be selecting them?

They will be selected in a transparent process to ensure no bad actors/unaligned persons are onboarded.

Step 3. Review current structure

Step 4. Suggest improvements

  • What current structure would they be reviewing and suggesting improvements on (i.e. proposal process, voting)?
    All DAO Structures and processes

  • What would they be looking for?
    Anything that can be taken advantage of by current members to hurt the DAOs mission.

Step 5. Review proposals/votes as needed

  • How will you determine if a review is needed?
    As needed reviews, as proposals come in if it is determined they need a further review (in specific regards to fund allocations) then it will happen.

Thanks again! Look forward to your reply!

3 Likes

Ethics is extremely hard to define, but we can lean on the report that will be coming to further details. What is important is that the systems are not abused for voters personal financial gains and what the number one goal of the board will be.

3 Likes

Hi @camol,

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.

  • mallard
1 Like

Hi @camol,

Before I jump into the proposal, I want to thank you for taking time to learn more about the ApeCoin DAO and submitting a meaningful proposal. For anyone looking in, @camol is indeed the Director of Partnerships and Co-Lead of Marketing for Sappy Seals. If you’re watching, you’ve almost certainly seen a Camol meme, and in fact his first proposal here was a meme- which was on brand and caught our attention. The fact that Camol is here looking to contribute to some glaring concerns within our governance structure is not by chance, he has relevant experience here. So thank you for proposing an improvement to the infrastructure before trying to build something more “fun”.

Onto the proposal, I would suggest leaving this thread open for at least another week to continue gathering feedback and building consensus. During this idea stage, you should take advantage of the opportunity to edit the proposal and incorporate community feedback before going on to the Draft stage. I think it’s going to make sense to include some specifications here, and introduce the process that would be used to determine and quantify the ethics reviewers/managers. One last thing I’d like to add, this group may qualify as a “working group”, so definitely consider contributing to the WG0 discussions so that you can have your perspective in the room.

Looking forward to following along and supporting your journey here with the ApeCoin DAO @camol !!

Thank you,
Lost
:gorilla::orange_heart:

10 Likes

Hi Camol,

Can you answer these questions from @CryptoLogically?

Also, not being able to define ethics gives me serious pause here.

Much of what you appear to be referring to can be handled by good governance and conflict of interest policies – I encourage you to participate in the Governance Focus Group in WG0 to help iron out these issues over the next three months. Thank you

7 Likes

Matter of fact, defining ethical behavior might be a topic for a prop of its own.

3 Likes

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

Thank you @camol for your ideas and the ApeCoin DAO community for the thoughtful discussions. A moderator will get in touch with the author to draft the AIP in the appropriate template. Once the AIP is drafted and meets all the DAO-approved guidelines, the proposal will be posted on Snapshot for live official voting at: Snapshot

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

-Pearson

2 Likes