Steward Nominations — Meta-Governance WG (Q3/Q4 2023 Term)

DAO-Wide
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To nominate yourself to be a steward of the Meta-Governance Working Group for the Q3/Q4 2023 Term, complete the steps below before 9am UTC on June 9.

Three Stewards will be elected for the Meta-Governance Working Group.

The nomination process will be followed by a five day election window for the Meta-Governance Working Group.

Nomination Steps

To nominate yourself to be a Steward of the Meta-Governance Working Group, follow the steps below.

Step 1

Forum: Reply to in this thread with the following information:

  • Link to Snapshot: (fill this in after Step 2)
  • Preferred Name and/or ENS name:
  • Forum username:
  • Twitter profile link (optional):
  • Why do you want to be a Steward of this Working Group?
  • Any other information you wish to share with Delegates (e.g. potential conflicts or existing engagements)

Step 2

Snapshot: Create a Snapshot vote in the ENS WG Steward Nomination space HERE. Select “New Proposal” and use the following template:

Template
Title: [[Name of Working Group]] Nominate [your preferred name or ENS name]

  • Example: [Meta-Governance] Nominate yourname.eth

Body: Copy and paste your forum reply from above which includes:

  • Your preferred name/ENS name
  • Forum username
  • Twitter profile link (optional)
  • Why do you want to be a Steward of this Working Group?
  • Any other information you wish to share with Delegates (e.g. potential conflicts or existing engagements)

Vote Timing
Select the start date and time of June 6 at 9am UTC.
Select the end date of June 9. The time will automatically be set to end at the same time the proposal starts (which should be 9am UTC).

voting-period-snapshot
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Please note, Snapshot will use your current timezone to set the time. Please convert 9am UTC into your local timezone when setting up your proposal.

For reference: 9am UTC = 5am ET / 2am PT / 10am BST / 11am CEST

Any nominations submitted to the forum prior to the start of the nomination window will become active when the nomination window opens on June 6. All votes to support a Steward nomination must be made during the nomination window.

Step 3

After successfully nominating yourself to be a Steward, you require 10k votes in support of your nomination on Snapshot between June 6 - 9.

Any nominee with 10k votes supporting their Steward nomination will be included in the ballot for the Steward election of the relevant Working Group.

Steward Elections

Anyone who completes the steps in the “Nominations Steps” section above will be included on the ballot for election. Steward elections will use approval voting.

Election begins: 9am UTC on June 10
Election ends: 9am UTC on June 15

Gitcoin Passport

If you have trouble submitting a proposal on Snapshot, please make sure you set up Gitcoin Passport first. You can set up your Gitcoin passport at passport.gitcoin.co.

Video Walkthrough

Before creating a Snapshot vote, please watch this video walkthrough of the process.

Questions

If you have any questions about the Steward election or nominations, or if you need help setting up your Snapshot vote, please comment below or DM Alisha on Twitter.

Forum Write-Access

In order to nominate yourself as a Steward, you must have write-access to all of the categories in the governance forum. Please submit the Participant Request form if you require write-access. If you have submitted the form and have not received a response it is because there is an invalid entry in your form. Please DM me on Twitter (@futurealisha) to follow up with issues.

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Dear frENS,

Thank you in advance for your support.

Link to Snapshot: Snapshot

Your preferred name/ENS name: Magnum.eth

Forum username: Magnum.eth

Twitter profile link: https://www.twitter.com/magnumEth

Why do you want to be a Steward of this Working Group?**

I’ve been part of the ENS community since the beginning, and my involvement has grown over the years. You may know me from Twitter, where I’ve shared insights on ENS use cases and I started and run @ensportugues community twitter page. I’m also a founding member or active member of other diverse communities such as ENSespanol, ENSEuropa. And ENSLatino.

Now, I want to bring my experience and connections to the metagovernance group as a Steward. My goal is simple: bridge the gap between Twitter and the discussion forum. Many community members stick to Twitter and miss out on DAO news and opportunities for active participation.

I’ll use my standing in the community to educate everyone on how the DAO works and encourage more engagement. Let’s adjust DAO operations to attract people from Twitter to the discussion forum, ensuring they’re informed and contributing. Together, we’ll create a stronger, more inclusive DAO.

I’m excited to collaborate with other Stewards and community members to make this happen. By selecting me, the DAO gains an advocate who understands the needs of web3 communities and can help shape a more connected and vibrant ecosystem.

Let’s bridge the gaps, empower the community, and drive the DAO’s success. Thank you for considering me as a Steward of the Working Group—I’m ready to make a difference!

Any other information you wish to share with Delegates (e.g. potential conflicts or existing engagements)** :

No conflicts to my knowledge.
I am quite active on Twitter. If you have any questions or just want to vibe holla at me @magnumeth

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Link to Snapshot: Snapshot
Preferred Name and/or ENS name: Katherine Wu // katherineykwu.eth
Forum username: @katherine.eth
Twitter profile link (optional): https://twitter.com/katherineykwu

Why do you want to be a Steward of this Working Group?

I am running for my re-election of the Steward position of the ENS Meta-Governance group. As a new steward in the first term of 2023, the past ~6 months has been incredibly enlightening for me as I stepped into the role: One of our most rewarding achievements has been activating the fund manager for the ENS Endowment after weeks of rigorous diligence. We have continued to oversee the progress of the Endowment on a weekly basis, a task both educational and fulfilling.

Furthermore, our group has strived to improve DAO tooling/governance, focusing on features that eliminate the burden of high gas fees for active ENS DAO voters. We’ve been successful in sponsoring several essential DAO-specific hackathons.

As Term 1 (2023)'s lead steward, I ran the weekly MG calls as well- the agenda and minutes linked here will expand on the above accomplishments from this past term. I truly hope to be able to carry on all of this important work next term!

Last note on ENS and the ENS DAO: I continue to believe that ENS will serve as one of the most important social primitives in crypto. The NameWrapper launch in Q1 means that the potential for ENS to onboard billions more to crypto has just begun, and I can’t wait to see the new applications around web3 social, community onboarding and building, and much more.

I have been pleasantly surprised with my experience thus far: the other stewards have been amazing to work with (had the chance to meet a number of them at EthDenver!), and the community of token holders and weekly participants have been lovely and helpful in my first term. I hope to continue to earn the trust and respect of token holders in Term 2 of 2023 and continue to carry out the work I’ve been doing for the past 6 months. :slight_smile:

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  • Link to Snapshot: Snapshot
  • Preferred Name and/or ENS name: Nick Johnson / nick.eth
  • Forum username: nick.eth
  • Twitter profile link (optional): @nicksdjohnson
  • Why do you want to be a Steward of this Working Group? I have been serving on the meta-gov working group since its inception, and would like to continue doing so. I believe I offer valuable insights into the structure and ongoing operation of the DAO, and value the opportunity to serve.
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Nomination for 5pence.eth

  • Link to Snapshot: Snapshot
  • Preferred Name: Spence
  • Forum username: 5pence.eth
  • Twitter Profile: @5pence_eth

Thanks for your time. Those of you that know me are familiar with my priorities and skillsets, but for those that I haven’t had the priviledge of interacting with, here’s what I would say is the most relevant info for this position:

Why?

First, The existing stewards should all be commended on the job they’ve done and the work they’ve put into the last three terms. It’s not an easy job.

I’m throwing my hat into this nomination ring because as an active member of the DAO I feel volunteering for this type of service is important, and member participation is integral to any DAO’s long term health and success.

I’ve been a long time DAO particiapnt and contributor having written multiple RFPs, and I’ve been a signer on an ENS DAO working group pod multi-sig for almost two terms.

Yes, but what would you do different?

My approach to the role would be driven by my belief of what a steward is. I believe a steward’s job is to carry out the will of the delegates, and by extension, the voters. The steward role is to put into action the consensus formed by the DAO. To do so, a steward needs to be present, available, accountable, communicative, and generally understanding to all parties.

Those that know me know that I am a listener first. That I take great pains to understand and evaluate all sides, that I always seek to fully understand any situation, and that I patiently build strong bridges. I believe in consensus.

What else I believe:

  • I believe in decentralization and the promise of a better system.
  • I believe ENS is an essential protocol for the Ethereum ecosystem.
  • I believe the ENS DAO’s mission is to protect the ENS protocol and ensure it’s longevity. In action, this looks like:
    • The endowment and treasury management
    • Ecosystem growth through funding and fellowships
    • Pay it forward (and backward) through public goods grants when possible
    • ENS community outreach and social inclusion

Metagov is a crucial gear in this machine and I appreciate your consideration.

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Link to Snapshot: Snapshot
Preferred name: Daylon
ENS name: daylon.eth
Forum username: @daylon.eth
Twitter profile: @feraldread

Why do you want to be a Steward of this Working Group?

I am among the most consistently engaged, well-informed, and longest contributing candidates.

After trying in all three of the previous term’s steward elections, I began to feel a little disillusioned with the whole process, as if it’s more or less a popularity contest, rather than a way to select the best candidates, based on their relevant merits like qualifications or experience, but in spite of that… here are a few reasons why I would make a good steward:

  • I have been an active participant since the DAO started in November 2021.
  • One way to see just how active is by checking my admittedly absurd amount of governance forum activity. (535+ days visited, 8 days read time, over 12k posts read, etc.)
  • DAO data-tracking platform Karma shows me as the 2nd-most active contributor in ENS DAO, behind only nick.eth, the founder of ENS.
  • I have participated in 100% of all DAO votes, both on and off-chain.

What have I contributed during my time in ENS DAO?

  • I think the most widely appreciated and significant contribution is the ENS DAO Newsletter. Since first proposing and starting it in March 2022, the research and editing involved to publish two new editions per month has required me to stay informed and up-to-date with the latest ENS developments every single day.
  • In November 2022, I was offered the opportunity to provide support in the Governance Forum, which I am happy to continue doing however I am able to, and for as long as my assistance is wanted.
  • During the start of this term, I acted as “archivist” by providing note-taking and call summaries whenever possible. However, since moving back to Seoul in February, the time zone difference made it much more difficult to attend the calls like I was able to originally at the start of the year. However, I’m still willing, able, and happy to assist whenever needed!

What would I do if elected as Steward?

I have maintained a Steward Platform containing a work-in-progress list of ideas I would like to develop further with ENS DAO, if given the chance and support.

The TL;DR is below if you don’t want to click the link.

  1. Secure the .eth TLD.
  2. Develop a second airdrop.
  3. Implement a variation of quadratic voting.
  4. Redevelop the delegation process to include an expiration function.
  5. Request regular financial audits from ENS Labs in order to safeguard against potential corruption and embezzlement.

Some of my other previous ideas include…

  • Here’s a fun one - The first idea I presented to the DAO was the formulation of an official Mission Statement. It never quite reached maturity, but that’s alright. It got the wheels turning and helped the early DAO members begin exploring the collaborative process.
  • Another big idea I developed and presented was a Community Contribution & Steward Performance (CCSP) Awards Campaign. This one also didn’t gain enough traction to be implemented, despite getting a decent showing of support in the forum responses… but I like to think that it at least in some way provided inspiration for the current ENS Small Grants program.
  • ENS Social Club was another small idea that unfortunately didn’t develop past the initial brainstorming steps.
  • (Unreleased) Press & Public Relations Working Group

Any other information you wish to share with Delegates (e.g. potential conflicts or existing engagements)

The responsibilities of a working group steward as outlined in Section 5 of [EP1.8] Working Group Rules can be boiled down almost entirely to “using discretion to disburse working group funds to people and/or projects.”

I believe it is important that there should not be any conflicts of interest, especially financial, in those that hold the position of working group steward.

I worry that with programs like ENS Small Grants, as well as the other grant programs offered and being developed, there are many opportunities for “kick-back” type situations in which an “in group” works to continuously benefit themselves while excluding those “outside” of their group. An example would be a delegate with a large number of votes making arrangements to vote for recipients that would then give them back a portion of the awarded grant money - the approval voting system and lack of thorough applicant vetting in the current Small Grants process is particularly vulnerable to this type of exploitation.

Another example would be if a small group of individuals that hold a large amount of voting power act together to keep themselves in the types of positions wherein they can receive unjustifiably large amounts of compensation, often budgeted by and for themselves, without any type of check or balance in place to monitor or account for where the money is going, and why.

Also, I believe there should be an absolute minimum commitment a steward agrees to in order to justify receiving compensation. Attending each of the weekly working group meetings, unless there is an emergency, seems like a reasonable starting point in my opinion.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

-Daylon

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Link to Snapshot: Snapshot

ENS name: simona.eth

Preferred Name: simona

Forum username: @simona_pop

Twitter: @Sim_Pop

Why do you want to be a steward of this Working Group:

I have served in the Meta Gov working group since inception together with Nick.eth across two terms (Coltron.eth in the first term and katherineykwu.eth in the second) and would like to continue serving in this capacity.

“Doing” governance right is a key aspect of evolving our ecosystem and its structures to a level where they are genuine alternatives to the broken socio-economic dynamics in place today. By continuing my work in the MG workstream, my knowledge and ability to gain greater context across governance does not just serve the ENS ecosystem but the movement at large so we may truly effect the change we seek to bring to the world.

Collaboration is key for the evolution of our web3 metaorganism so supporting & designing emergent gov patterns continues to feel like an organic evolution of my work.

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Nominations have now closed.

The following names will be included on the ballot for the Meta-Governance Working Group election:

  • Magnum.eth
  • Katherine Wu / katherineykwu.eth
  • Nick Johnson / nick.eth
  • Spence / 5pence.eth
  • daylon.eth
  • Simona / simona.eth

Elections begin tomorrow at 9am UTC June 10, and close at 9am UTC June 15.

The top three ranked nominees in the election will be elected as Stewards for the Meta-Governance Working Group, for the Q3/Q4 Term, starting July 1.

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