Community Support DAO
PROPOSAL: Establish a Community Support DAO for Osmosis and fund its treasury with 60,000 OSMO from the community pool. A 3-of-5 multi-signature wallet will secure and distribute funds.
Osmosis Community Support DAO
The support challenges facing Osmosis community members and current admins are real. Let's meet these challenges head-on, as they are multiplying in tandem with the increase of investors and liquidity in the Zone.
Just as the tools of Osmosis allow market participants to self-identify opportunities and react by adjusting various parameters of the AMM, we believe it’s time to adjust the parameters of community support in the interest of continuing our growth trajectory.
Since its launch, Osmosis has been an incredible success both in terms of technology and innovation. A key feature that sets Osmosis apart from other DEXs is that we want to encourage the community to become involved in determining the project's future by embracing governance and rewarding people for making valuable contributions to the Zone.
Unlike many developer team-driven projects, we see the Osmosis community proactively embracing the spirit of decentralized problem-solving. Osmosis users act on initiatives via governance, engaging with the core team for their input, and collaborating with developers and other community members. In line with this vision, Osmosis’ progressively decentralized approach means we as a community must begin to work with the core team and form DAOs that can progress into a fully community-centered model. Over time, this will translate more and more into community-driven solutions to the problems we face.
An active and empowered community is the cornerstone of all successful DeFi projects. This collaborative spirit will help us achieve Osmosis’ vision of innovation, inclusiveness, and decentralization. Moreover, this focus on empowering its users has prompted many Osmosis community members to reciprocate with personal contributions to the project.
We intend to operate within an open and verifiable process and a collaborative system designed to use funds in a way that adds the most value possible to the Zone. We aim to deliver results that will make the community proud and grow a Community Support DAO well beyond our contributions.
Pursuant to that vision, we intend to establish an organized multi-sig support DAO with the following responsibilities:
Oversee community members who are officially involved in the program to ensure that they fulfill their commitments.
Manage distributions from a multi-sig wallet to community administrators in exchange for support services.
Actively participate, with the support managers, in the selection of community administrators and skilled contractors. For specific roles with increased technical responsibilities, we will also consult with the core team.
Foster a working partnership with the Marketing DAO. We propose open communication and collaboration between the DAOs to ensure our efforts are synergistic instead of redundant. This will also promote the sharing of resources and data in a way that benefits both DAOs and the community as a whole.
Have periodic calls with the core team and community to ensure everyone's efforts are fully aligned.
Major Problems Facing the Community
The high volume of new users coming in from other established ecosystems such as Terra.
An influx of new users, including those on the mobile version of Osmosis, who are experiencing crypto for the first time, and therefore require a multitude of resources, including entry-level documentation, and personal attention.
A high volume of BTC and ETH investors prepared to bridge assets.
New users who get stuck and may decide to go elsewhere before even attempting to onboard.
Rapid innovation of Osmosis features requires extra 1-on-1 troubleshooting with users due to data sensitivity.
Lack of a support ‘home base’ kept up-to-date for all the major repeat issues.
Lack of comprehensive educational materials.
Too few admins and mods on all channels; they are not being compensated. These factors are leading them towards burnout from being overworked and under-rewarded.
Absence of new admin onboarding processes for scaling
A growing number of investors with an inadequate range of support materials in their language and rapid assistance in their time zone. Additionally, gaps in support response during the night and early-morning hours leave users even more vulnerable to scammers.
In general, scammers are multiplying at exponential rates. There is an urgent need to thwart scammers by providing users with rapid and precise answers and instructions.
These are the major issues community members, admins, mods, and DAO members have identified.
By building this excellent product and fostering this community, we believe the core team has proven themselves more than qualified to provide some initial leadership and offer valuable counsel to launch. We, too, see DAOs beginning in this manner and evolving over time, as in An Approach to DAO Formation.
Rewarding community members who are active and passionate has been a core value of Cosmos from the start. The following ideas result from our conversations with highly engaged community members, current Osmosis admins/moderators, and the core team.
Osmosis’s rapid growth and adoption have put the community in a position to jumpstart the process of strengthening our support system. We align with the founders’ vision of the community pool: “The expectation is for the community to leverage this pool early into the bootstrapping phase to allow useful tooling, infrastructure, educational content, and other resources to be quickly available.”
The following list details resources needed to succeed and flourish along with the rest of the Cosmos ecosystem.
Current Initiative Ideas
Create an environment where we value our support teams on all channels: Telegram, Discord, and Reddit, et. al, and recognize our irreplaceable community members.
We belatedly recognize people for their contributions to community support efforts. For example, a volunteer, Alice, built the Discord server and designed a ticketing system to enable 1-to-1 communication with moderators. Hard-working volunteers like her have been shouldering the entire moderation and support burden, working 8-10 hour days during busy times. It is time that we recognize and compensate them for their sustained contributions to the Osmosis community.
We are also looking to bring on more moderators, as there are gaps of time where people seeking help must wait until mods are back online. This is especially true of users in different time zones, who may come on in the middle of the night while the mods are asleep.
Reddit needs good, active, and cohesive moderation. The sub has been moderated only by community volunteers thus far. We believe compensated moderation will help direct new users, many of whom may discover Osmosis through Reddit, to the appropriate support they need and also foster a greater sense of community in the sub.
Tooling/Software
A live chat built into the Osmosis UI
We have asked current admins to look into ways to prevent newcomers from falling for scams. We intend to keep a public, running list of scam types and field community-suggested solutions of any proactive measures to crush scammers' efforts. Examples of proposed solutions:
Look into the system Keplr uses (Helpcrunch)
Use and expand a one-to-one ticketing system on Discord that only moderators can create and oversee.
Develop an Osmosis-specific bot that lets newcomers know about scammers to inform people who join that messages from scammers are coming and to block them. (This replaces the current one designed by 1inch.)
Use Passage 3D to do live (perhaps, eventually automated) support in a virtual Osmosis laboratory. 'Show' newcomers how to do certain things (e.g., stake, LP, vote on governance) and possibly expand to a section for more ‘advanced’ users on how to create proposals, form DAOs, etc.
A ‘testnet’/’dummy’ Lab to practice various transactions, such as staking, governance, LPing, etc. The idea would be similar to paper trading on eTrade and TradingView, or the tutorial platform that a program like Adobe After Effects uses. It looks and works exactly like the UI, so once a user is actually on the real thing using real funds, they are already well-versed on the ins and outs of the platform. They will be more trained to recognize anything that looks out of place, i.e., where a scammer may be trying to infiltrate.
Enlist senior admins and moderators to collaborate in developing a searchable support database with the most common questions and problems and reward them for their time and expertise.
A searchable FAQ/Interactive Support Form will serve as an essential resource for those trying to onboard themselves onto Osmosis.
After this is developed, we can ask (and reward) native speakers to translate the documents into multiple languages.
There is a growing need for multi-language support for users from non-English speaking countries who may come on to the channels at all hours.
Directing non-English speakers to support in their respective languages will open up the platform to exponentially more users.
Projected Preliminary Budget
At the end of a year, if any funds are not being used for ongoing initiatives/compensation or the contingency fund (see below), we will return them to the Community Pool.
Having the transparency of an on-chain budget incentivizes the DAO only to spend what can be justified. All transactions will include a memo with a description and category of the specific allocation. Additionally, monthly spending reports will be made available to the community. These will shift to quarterly reports after the first quarter.
Projections - see embedded image at the end of the document
24/7 Staff
Software/Tools
Support Website Development
Searchable FAQs/Interactive Support Form
A good, legit FAQ is not 'set and forget,' it’s a living document
Enlist a copywriter/editor
Maintain it monthly or more often, as needed.
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) Manual
Helps streamline the onboarding of new admins
SOP gets updated at least annually or more often as needed.
Training and Mentorship
Added hours for existing admins to onboard new support staff
Accompanies and enforces SOP
No estimate yet. By the first review, we expect to know if this is an additional ongoing cost or if it will be integrated into admins’ duties.
Contingency Fund
We will keep a 20% reserve of the total budget for emergency/springboard funds at all times. These OSMO are considered held aside to account for things – positive or negative – that are beyond what we can forecast. We are in new territory of having a decentralized customer support team assisting clients in a new IBC protocol and must be able to adapt and respond to changes.
DAO Member Compensation
The core team has decided to cover compensation for the DAO members from the strategic reserve. However, after the first review, we expect to see that come from the Community Pool.
The requested sum of 60,000 OSMO is equivalent to less than 1% of the current community pool, which currently stands at 6,500,000 OSMO… that is just 1.5 days of daily OSMO community pool emissions.
Accountability
Upon community approval of this proposal the requested fund of 60,000 OSMO will be moved immediately from the community pool to a ‘3 of 5’ multi-sig wallet. The DAO's multi-sig wallet address is: osmo1r9pjvsuahxwkxg8cnhacd6alkmxq330fl9pqqt . This is where funds will be held and disbursed from.
As signers to the Community DAO multi-sig, we commit to solid principles and practices of accountability. We want accountability to be more than a retrospective mechanism. We commit to being responsive to community input and working together with the admins and moderators. These commitments will ensure the initiatives undertaken by the DAO align with users' needs and stay true to the vision of the Osmosis founders.
Means of accountability will include:
Continued efforts on all platforms to solicit community feedback about what should be improved on Osmosis
DAO members will conduct informal surveys and involve the community in determining pressing issues and actionable responses.
Transparency
Quarterly transparency reports will be published that will clearly and reasonably explain how the DAO has spent funds.
Every transaction of DAO funds will have a memo explaining the category and purpose of the expenditure.
All funding is intended to be sent to community members and contractors outside the DAO. However, on the very rare occasion that a funding decision would pay a DAO member for support services rendered (e.g., to pay our one admin who is also in the DAO, RoboMcGobo), that member will abstain from signing the transaction to remove any appearance of self-dealing. We would require 3-of-4 members in that case, setting the bar for consensus and security even higher than normal.
Review
We will convene for a review period after two quarters to discuss with the community all progress made thus far and determine needed funding allocations moving forward.
DAO Member Bios
Robo:
Hey everyone! RoboMcGobo here. I moderate the Osmosis Discord alongside Meow | Alice. I provide support to Osmosis users on a daily basis and help onboard new users that have trouble understanding the platform and IBC in general. If you’ve visited the Discord any time in the four months since Osmosis has launched, you’ve probably seen me helping someone out. I may have even assisted you a few times!
During my time as a member of this community, I have listened to community feedback regarding commonly-encountered support issues and communicated with members of the development team and active set validators to create changes aimed at resolving those issues. As an example, after communicating with members of the team, I wrote the text that ultimately became prop 45 (https://commonwealth.im/osmosis/proposal/discussion/2047-proposal-raise-the-pool-creation-fee-and-refund-pools-with-less-than-1000-tvl).
Offline, I am a practicing attorney in the US. I commonly advise clients on business formation and organizational issues which, in addition to my practical community support experience, I feel will translate well to helping my fellow DAO members in administering the DAO. In my free time, I’m an avid gamer and animal lover. I enjoy hiking and spending time in nature with my wife and two dogs!
Claire:
My name is Claire Lipton and I am one of the newer members of the Community Support DAO.
Telegram: @cbear2 Discord: Claire#0929 Email: clairelipton@aol.com
I have over 20 years experience in administrative management. I have worked with a wide variety of businesses, including a boutique marketing firm, floral shop, and property management company. I am currently a co-owner and manager of a glassblowing studio and one-half of a husband & wife design/consultancy business specializing in commercial properties.
My expertise lies primarily in organization, project management, communications, and mediation. I am well trained in most business software, including word processing and graphic design programs. I feel able to bridge my right-brained, creative-oriented tendencies into the more logical/analytical worlds of business and finance and contribute to problem-solving in an imaginative way.
I am so excited to be here! I dabbled a bit in crypto in years past, but didn’t really get into it, or better said, ‘get it’ until onboarding to Osmosis at launch, at which point my mind was sufficiently blown. And I continue to be more and more amazed with and proud of the entire Osmosis community, and Cosmos-at-large by the day. I pledge to be a dedicated team member and valuable asset in every way I possibly can. I truly believe that together, we can continue to build something incredible, that will propel us into the future in ways we are only beginning to comprehend.
Please feel free to reach out to me on socials or by email any time you feel like it. If I am not doing one of my hobbies of surfing, enjoying nature, making art, or playing music, I will be there to reply.
Mike:
Hey, everyone! I’m Michael @Mikebarb. For most of my working life, I was in the field of corporate customer service. For 5+ years, I worked in the medical field where I managed a small staff of 8-10 people servicing around 15K patients with doctors across the US. I managed my team members, their workload, and handled escalated patients. I primarily focused on reporting the data analytics behind the customer services teams, their productivity, and growth.
About 4 years ago, I left the corporate world to follow my passion of joining the culinary world and started a catering company. Owning a small company helped me learn some of the other sides of business such as regulations, licensing, and taxes. As a DAO member, I want to serve the Osmosis community by spearheading matters involving the DAO’s budget, transparency reports, and allocations originating from the community fund. I want to make certain this information is shared with the Osmosis community in a timely and accessible manner.
In my spare time, I really like experimenting with the science of cooking but most of my free time is spent getting bossed around by my 9 and 4 year old daughters.
Kevin:
Hi! I'm Kevin B, aka Kevin Dizzle, a member of our proposed multi-signature Community Support DAO.
My work experience runs the gamut: Creative Director/Copywriter, Producer, and Video Editor in my day job and Stand-up Comedian, Host, and Podcaster in my 'night' job. If you’ve listened to the past few “Updates from the Lab” on Osmosis Zone’s Twitter Spaces, you’ve likely heard me co-hosting with Eddie.
As a comedy show host and producer in NYC for over six years, I've fostered communities and developed a knack for interacting with diverse community members in person. Empathy and clear communication go a long way. During the heart of the pandemic, I helped create Apple Podcasts' #2 Comedy Fiction show (S. Africa).
If you look at my work history, I might seem like a shoo-in for the Marketing DAO. Yet, we need to have a solid inter-disciplinary approach since marketing and support are symbiotic. For example, marketing requires a good grasp of the target market and audience. Support workers have firsthand knowledge of that audience. And so forth.
As a member of the PGA, New Media Council, who helped launch an in-house video/marketing department and grew it by 300% at the largest non-chained store specialized in photo and video in the USA, I'd say we have a strong plan and robust team.
In corporate roles, I’ve budgeted hundreds of projects, staffed dozens of productions, and worked with as many freelancers to produce deliverables both as a crew member and as a Director and leader intent on conveying a shared vision. I’ve managed annual budgets in the $300,000-$500,000 range if you price in salaries for all collaborators.
Thanks to that day job, I first learned about and invested in cryptocurrency in June of 2017. Fast forward to 7/3/2021 at 1:34 pm, and I’m on the Osmosis Telegram chat, trying to crush some FUD. That day I joined the ION Governance Working Group chat. There I met many other BUIDL-minded community members, Osmosis core team members, and nearly everyone in this multisig group, as well as the newly-formed Marketing DAO.
The animated discussion of critical problems, DeFi ideas, and potential solutions captivated me. I joined the fray. I’ve since worked collectively, collaboratively, and sometimes combatively to see how we can improve the Zone for all Osmonauts across all of our social channels, from Telegram to Discord, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube.
I'm invested in Osmosis and believe in its potential to become the biggest and best AMM in the Cosmos ecosystem. I particularly appreciate how it was "designed such that the most efficient solution is reachable through the process of experimentation and rapid iteration by leveraging the wisdom of the crowd."
My main goal has been to listen, observe, and contribute to the conversation in constructive ways. I've found a niche in pinpointing and verbally expressing shared values, working to ensure we're considering the best interests of our fellow investors and potential partner chains, and rallying the troops around the community's best ideas.
I believe “the wisdom of the crowd” is vital with this community because we love great memes, we welcome anyone regardless of experience level as long as they come with an open mind and a willingness to contribute, and we attract and encourage well-informed, independent thinkers.
May we harness that wisdom and go forth. United, we have the best chance to usher Osmosis into a phase of unparalleled growth and awesomeness.
You can find me on Telegram: @kevindizzle, Discord: kevindizzle#8665, Twitter: @berrey
Dennis:
Hi, everyone! I’m Dennis @SJ_DK. I’ve been a test prep tutor and college admissions consultant for the past 8 years. I advise students and their families on navigating the college application process, providing guidance at each step of the way. The work I do with each student is done on a one-on-one basis with personalized mentoring. At this level of personalized instruction, there is always a need to earn students’ trust and build rapport. Together, we identify skills that they need to improve in, determine actionables that are necessary to achieve their SAT/ACT score goals, and follow through on our plans, making course corrections in light of changes. After my students achieve their desired scores, most of them reach out to me again when it’s time to write the college application essays, and I coach them to write original and authentic personal statements. My students have gained admission into Ivy League schools and some of America’s most prestigious private and boarding schools.
I’ve been active in the Telegram since day 2 of Osmosis’ launch. I am most excited about helping to shape ION’s future use case and collaborating with members of the community in brainstorming ways to help solve the problems facing Osmosis. The moment I wanted to get more involved was in watching the admins of the Telegram struggling to provide support during epoch times in the early days after the launch. I also saw that relayers, who make IBC transfers possible, received insufficient community support and encouraged the community to learn about their work and delegate with them. After the dev team improved IBC and the Telegram became quieter during epoch times, the next issue I wanted to help address was the prevalence of scammers who audaciously impersonate the admins and Osmosis team to deceive new users. When new users come onto the support channels, they are at their most vulnerable, and it’s deplorable that scammers continue to operate with impunity. The admins and the members of the community want to ensure that people have a good experience when they join our community and keep their funds secure. To that end, I’m excited to bring in more moderators and admins, facilitate the creation of FAQs and documentation to assist users who want to onboard, and implement solutions to protect the community. Moreover, I plan to focus on reaching out to the community for feedback on what can be improved with the Osmosis experience and bring these concerns to the relevant people on the team and the members of the different DAOs.
I hope you vote yes so that we can get to work! Thank you.
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