The worst part isn’t just the concentration of power in the hands of a small group of people acting as bounty curators and holding multiple ecosystem roles in what is supposed to be a decentralized system.
What’s even more concerning is that these same curators previously approved payments to inactive moderators. Under that system, an active moderator received 100% of the allocated compensation, while someone doing absolutely nothing still received 70%.
Proof here: Moderation Team Bounty Top-up
Who thought that was a sensible incentive structure? If inactivity still earns you 70% of the reward, why would anyone put in the effort to contribute? It creates exactly the wrong incentives.
And to make matters worse, W3F has just voted in favor of a new top-up, effectively endorsing the continuation of this approach.
At least ParaNodes (Will Paradox) has been removed from the moderator team after being inactive while still collecting 70% of the allocated compensation. However, he is still earning around $2,000 per month as a curator in another bounty, while also charging 50% commission on Kusama. 