The CommunitySquad DAO – as the main source for $NEAR distribution to members of the NEAR Community – is sent payout proposals on an ongoing basis, but especially at the end of the month as Guilds report on their activity and upcoming plans.
To address payout proposal failure and voting delays, and to encourage good governance practices, the following proposal seeks to address a core problem:
The CommunitySquad DAO Council members do not feel adequately acquainted with the proposals coming in and how voting parameters are determined. The flurry of incoming proposals results in reactionary, uninformed Council voting and general confusion for many. The request has been made for weekly (if possible) meetings to discuss ‘Voting in Progress’ and expected SputnikDAO payout proposals. However, the current voting period of 7 days does not allow for space for deliberation.
Proposed Solution:
I would like to propose we extend the CommunitySquad DAO voting period from 7 to 14 days to allow for every-other-week meetings to all be able to discuss these payout proposals properly. This would be in addition to the updates the Guilds Management Crew, et al. send to the MarCom Slack channel as conversations develop with Guild leaders and Ecosystem Development efforts unfold. Other DAOs in the Ecosystem have voting periods for up to 30 days, so this extensions seems to be a good compromise.
It is important to note that this extension would not lessen our urgency to pass through proposals swiftly so community members can easily receive funding for their proposals, and this extension would even potentially prove helpful to the Community as hopefully greater time and space for Council discussion would result in fewer proposals expiring (requiring individuals to re-post).
) - but that’s how we’re handling things. Anyone can submit a proposal and then it sits in the pre-vote area awaiting sponsorship. While there, it is discussed, questions asked, responses given until it reaches a point where there is enough detail/info provided so that all members who intend to vote are well informed. At that point, someone sponsors the proposal which sends it into the voting period. Because all the discussion has already happened, can keep a relatively short voting period - long enough to give active members a chance to vote, but voting period isn’t about debate/discussion - that’s already happened.
) and in the meantime, we can encourage Guilds/community members to post as much as possible on the Forum detailing what they’re up to so there’s no question of voting their proposal through - because the work and trust are there - but the reality is many groups won’t, so there may only be insights and details that can be conveyed right now through real time communication/contact. We’re working on this, but in the meantime, for every funding proposal that comes in, we do try to interact with it as much as possible on the Forum as much for our own understanding and deliberation, as to strengthen the pitch. And to be as transparent as possible about our processes and thinking, of course! I’ll definitely bring up in the meeting tomorrow that the CS DAO Council should make a point of commenting on more of the Forum posts as part of their ongoing deliberation process so these meetings can be saved for any current or upcoming exceptional cases.