Beginning the conversation - Polkadot User Society / Pallas Delta Theta

Ecosystem
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Hello Fellow DOT Community Members,

I would like to use this post as a conversation starter to begin work on a Polkadot Society Pallet rollout, similar to the Kappa Sigma Mu society that has already been successfully operating for some time.

Why do we need this on-chain DOT society?

  • We all agree that the rollout of Polkadot Alliance on-chain collective was a positive step for the ecosystem, it gave parachains a route to organise around shared values and goals that they have a vested interest in.

  • While the parachain teams generally share the same views as their users, this may not always be the case. This is why standalone dedicated community members also need an organisation structure to enable them to focus their voices into one single user led structure. This is the core issue that a society can address. It enables the most dedicate DOT community members to organise around a shared venue to discuss issues that impact them the most while removing any influence a single parachain may have.

What would the goals of this society be ?

  • Primarily this would be a social venue that would interlink each parachains most dedicated users. Its main goal would be to ensure that users values are promoted during DOT governance votes. As there would be a non-financial barrier to entry this would ensure only the most honest and dedicated users can partake in this societal structure.

  • As mentioned above similar to Kappa Sigma Mu, we would require proof of membership. This proof would remove any scammers, dishonest actors and users only partaking in governance for their own financial gain from the society.

  • As we can all see, we have not yet reached the stage when DOT has filled itā€™s parachain capacity. I.e. we need to do more as a community to enable teams to form around shared values then proceed to launch a parachain. Having a society instantly verifies specific community members will to go the extra mile and dedicate large parts of their career to promoting the Polkadot community values. This would quickly make the society the perfect hiring ground, meeting place and venue for serious academic discussion regarding the future of DOT.

The Barrier to Entry

  • Much like Kappa Sigma Mu, I believe this would only work if there was a strict barrier to entry. Specifically a Tattoo proving multiple key items. Proof of personhood, proof of dedication, verification of other members in the society. Each tattoo points to the previous member in the societal chain of membership.

  • A problem I think many of us see the in the parachain space is that, everyone voice is equally weighted in the community discussion ( a good thing in my opinion ). But this does cause some issues.

If person A has dedicated many years of their life to DOT, deeply understands the tech, community and specific chain up for discussion.

But person B is new to the community has a very poor understand of the tech and values. They only would like to vote in the interest of short term financial gain ( which is their right to do so ).

In discord servers, reddit chats and community events these people opinions are equally weighted in the eyes of onlookers / governance voters.

A society would enable the self marking of community members that can be seen as long term believers in our values as a community. Thus enabling community members to easily weight each persons intentions.

i.e. Person A - is a society member + I can verify this = this person shares the same values as I do.

Person B - is not a society member, I donā€™t know their username/wallet address, they are not associated with a core parachain team = maybe this users intentions do not aline with my values.

Financial aspect.

  • While I understand that Kappa Sigma Mu does pay out KSM rewards to their members, I personally do not believe the DOT society should not default do the same.

  • Personally I would like to see the DOT treasury support this society, but I think any funds that are accrued should be focused on specific community events, liquidity programs, supporting new parachains for their lease.

Meaning, while users are not getting paid to join the society they do have a financial backing to vote as a group, support teams / protocol proposals, increase liquidity where needed, incentivise honest community led validators.

I also believe not paying society members will also further remove anyone just joining for a quick buck thus strengthen the credibility of membership and the society as whole.

Final thoughts,

As some of you may know, I work for a parachain. But my core believes are that I support all the chains on DOT/KSM. Sometimes I feel like parachains are being incentivised to fight against each other for slots, liquidity , users, treasury grants ect. Rather than fighting with each other for the betterment of Polkadot users.

It is my believe that if one parachain does really well, that will just onboard many more users into our ecosystem as a whole and ā€˜grow the pieā€™ so to speak. A society can balance out these forces and try to engage each parachain to work together rather than separately.

While I am highly interested in joining this society as a founding member , I do not think I have all the answers, I donā€™t think I know more than anyone else and I respect everyoneā€™s voice be they for or against this society.

All I want is the strengthening of our DOT community values and I think the best route to this is by forming a user lead non-financial incentive based society.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts, comments, concerns on this post. I will do my best to share it as much as possible and we can try and use it as a launching point for further discussion.

I have also created a discord server for anyone interested in taking this further + hashing out the specific details as to next steps forward as well. Please feel free to join, all welcome.

There is no better time to start this than in the depths of a bear market, while my coding abilities may not be up to scratch. I personally am willing to dedicate my own time to get this moving and try to organise / push this forward for the betterment of us all.

Kind regards,

TheOyster#0001

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I think this could be a great idea. While I concur with the need for verification and some form of seniority, I dont think it should be overwhelmingly formal.

Just a place to share serious ideas to improve overall eco.

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I donā€™t mind if we change the specific barrier to entry.

Just trying to get the convo going to see if there is any interest in the general idea.

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ALSO,

If anyone has any better ideas for names.

I am 100% open to them.

Please make any suggestions you would like.
Nothing is set in stone.

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I like the idea of a society in general, but maybe not exactly like Kappa Sigma Mu. I find the greek association offputting, and honestly itā€™s not so much an ecosystem knowledge/investment barrier to entry as it is a personal connection one. There are people heavily invested in Polkadot (time-wise, I mean) beyond devs and the close friends of devs.

Iā€™m also not against the concept of tattoos in general, but I am against the web3 version of wall flashā€¦if itā€™s involved there should be room for interpretation, Iā€™d never get a piece done out of a book without customization for any other reason, I certainly wouldnā€™t want to do it with a brand.

could also be interesting to have more than one society too, fwiw. maybe specialize the proof of membership like guilds and gamify challenges between societies rather than just looping challenges within a single one. People love taking sides on things when given the opportunity.

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Iā€™m very happy if as a community we do decide to change specific details. e.g. the name, the payment details ectā€¦

Personally I think a barrier to entry is required to try and have a minimum level of dedication.

I would love if this was just the beginning of a conversation between the whole community to see where everyone stands.

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barrier to entry is good, but kappa is less a barrier to clear and more an insular group thatā€™s difficult to even understand what it is unless you know someone already involved. Iā€™d like a decently high barrier, but maybe one that doesnā€™t make it such a social connection necessity. Accessibility outside that core set is going to be necessary if itā€™s ever to include more than the same 50 people that are involved in basically everything lol

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I like your suggestion and share the sentiment to some extent, even if, like @zooeys , Iā€™m not necessarily a fan of greek association and secret society tattoos. But I think the idea is worth exploring.

A ā€œuser societyā€ could, among other things, be a great place to welcome new arrivals to the ecosystem and offer them guidance in a non-intimidating way. It could also hypothetically become a body to represent the political interests of the common user, if it ever becomes clear what these might be.

But I have some doubts. How would this society be different from Dotsama Twitter, for example? Twitter is already a decent venue where the issues affecting common users are aired out. Number of followers is a pretty good indicator of your experience and acceptance level in Dotsama.

How such a society can promote community values is another aspect of the idea I donā€™t fully see. The Polkadot Alliance can promote values because parachain projects are literally building out the ecosystem. But users do not have the same power to influence the ecosystemā€™s culture and behavior-- except by choosing what products to consume and by participating in democracy. Is this what you have in mind when you talk about promoting values? Giving ā€œconsumerā€ recommendations on which projects to use? Encouraging democratic activity?

We already have solid projects dedicated to promoting democratic participation.

As there are already many DAOs in the space making important contributions to the common good, this Polkadot User Society would need to have a distinctive identity.

I also think that some sort of proof of dedication is a good idea, though this could ostensibly be done simply by awarding roles on DIscord based on contributions and dedication-- no need for tattoos :wink:
Other DAOs in the ecosystem are already blazing this path.

Iā€™m joining your discord.

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Having people be physically identifiable as being part of an association could be a security risk if someone wanted to round up all these deviants. People should be able to be anonymous if they feel they need to be.

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As an early Polkadot supporter, and also knowing TheOyster and certifying heā€™s a stand up guy, I fully approve of this proposal.

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I suggest creating ā€œPolkadot Institute of Technologyā€ (PIT) and offer courses as well as verifiable credentials to members and non-members based on real contributions and verifiable achievements. Tattoos, fraternities, and sororities arenā€™t for everyone.

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