Hmmm, this is tricky.
I joined the DAO with 1 ApeCoin after the EthGlobal Scaling Ethereum event in March, still hold it.
I’ve kinda been on a 1 man 1 ApeCoin mission this year to be truthful, test the theory if that makes sense. I hope I have contributed enough to bring value in other ways be it ideas, different solutions and the like.
I have managed to complete various ThankApe tasks and quests which have gained me additional ApeCoin through the year, but have used them to fund IRL costs.
I think it would deter others like me to join and contribute but understand measures need to be put in place to prevent those pesky farmers
and dodgy characters just taking up valuable resources.
1 ApeCoin 1 Vote is the selling point of the DAO.
Food for thought:
A suggestion would be to work more around the trust levels so that you need to be at least level 2 or even 3 to do anything within the geek-o-system and perhaps add additional levels of trust.
Currently level 3 is obtainable but requires some effort so perhaps that is a better way to tackle the issues at hand.
A solution that could be cool is after obtaining a certain trust level you are then able to mint an ApeCoin NFT, using $APE or ETH and these can serve as proof of commitment to the cause.
By doing this we could generate revenue for the DAO as well and use them to token gate certain initiatives and creation of AIPs, joining in the ThankApe fun, etc.
I would proudly display my ApeCoin soulbound NFTs, Gitcoin did this a while back for completing different quizzes and it almost became a fun challenge to get the full collection.
After getting all levels and NFTs, maybe there can be a small reward or get a cool T-Shirt to wear IRL and show your love and support for the ApeCoin community and DAO.
Some Examples of my Gitcoin Tokens


