I want to speak out in favour of keeping the DD as it currently is, for the following reasons:
- HAs have to have skin in the game, and this DD is the easiest way to prove that
- Not having any DD (or significantly lowering it) would invite a lot of spam/grifters/people from outside the ecosystem, who just come for the quick money and have no skin in the game
- The fact that it has to be unstaked DOT is a general technical requirement, due to the otherwise existing risk of “double slashing”. It is the same for any other DD
- I don’t think that the DD will discriminate against people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, because you can always have someone else place it on your behalf. Being a HA is an inherently political job (the terms “ambassador” implies that), so being able to form alliances and getting someone else to sponsor the DD can be considered “part of the job” or an “election criteria”.
In summary, if you don’t have 5000 DOT which you’re willing to lock, AND can’t find anyone who knows you well enough to place the deposit on your behalf, you probably should not become HA in the first place.