[DAO:ab7677c] Council formation centralizes power giving too much control to a few individuals

Governance
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by 0xbc02db030361121dd43bbb2fcbcb4f9f98c1dc7d (JasonX)

The formation of a council, that will have as one of its missions the establishment of an “Executive Arm”, represents a gross violation of the original trust set forth in the whitepapers.

Unlike other virtual worlds and social networks, Decentraland is not controlled by a centralized organization. There is no single agent with the power to modify the […] economics of the

Built with open standards as a public good, it operates beyond the control of any single entity

An Executive Arm would be a misappropriation of this “ownership of the LAND-owners”.
Considering that there cannot be legal implication from this is quite ludicrous.

Decentraland is a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications.

As one of those who was attracted by this glorious promise, I can personally attest as to how this promise has been broken.
And from conversations I’ve had with others, it is quite clear I am far from being the only one having grievance over this.

Over the last year, I went on a deep dive of the situation in Decentraland, to try to understand not just what needed to be fixed, but also why things had gotten so broken in the first place.
And now I truly have a lot to say about it. And it is not pretty.

The vast majority of the applicants for a position on this council are, in my professional opinion, sorely unqualified for any such position.

Decentraland has become a ghost-town under the “leadership” of most of them, who have been presiding over this downfall with the use of their VP.
Now they are intent on institutionalizing their inability to properly lead the Decentraland project.

A council would essentially provide them corporate powers to push through changes which they couldn’t get the community to approve on.

A council would be the beginning of the end of the Great Grand Dream of Decentraland.
And so I had to delay even more my wondrous content-creation and go on a deep dive of the past of this DAO to understand what was going on.

And I have reached the conclusion that what is going on with this council formation may actually be highly illegal, and cannot even be allowed to proceed from this last standpoint alone.

First of all:
If suddenly there are actual legal entities to be sued, then there is quite a good chance for a few disgruntled LAND-owners to decide to go ahead and start lawsuits they may have been planning, with respect to the false claims that were made to them when they purchased their LANDs.
Whatever their belief may be about any such kind of false claim !
Knowing Human Nature, there is a very good chance for something like this to happen.

But more importantly:

As a security measure, elected Council members will have to disclose their real names and provide a valid photo ID to be shared with the rest of the elected Council members.

This needs to happen before a vote, not after a vote !
How are we supposed to have any way of validating that any given applicant’s resume is truthful otherwise ?
This is legally ridiculous !
I personally know the majority of the applicants, in my professional opinion, they are in no way qualified to be on any kind of such council.

As this is the first time the Council is being formed, members will also need to share their identities and ID with the Decentraland Foundation until the DAO establishes a formal legal entity. Once the DAO sets up its legal structure, it will take responsibility for safeguarding the KYC information of Council members.

until the DAO establishes a formal legal entity… How long is that ever going to take ??
For how long is it going to be only the Foundation, which is a separate legal entity, who will be the ones in charge of enforcing the “KYC” ? (KYC is the wrong term here, by the way)
Can we really trust an entity that has shown itself so incompetent as to deploy an Alpha product into production, and even attempt to label it “Beta” for a few weeks, to be able to properly “enforce this KYC” ?
…
Not really.
And it will no doubt be quite easy to make a legal case proving so.

And finally:

The Council will play a pivotal role in overseeing the DAO’s priorities, including potentially the Executive Arm

This a detail which makes it very likely for the SEC to want to weigh in. The original promise tied to VP is going to be completely thrown out the window if decision-power gets “reformulated” like this.

If you believe the formation of the council must be stopped & it is a terrible idea, please vote Yes

If you believe the formation of the council is a good idea vote No

  • Yes
  • No
  • Invalid question/options

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

1 Like
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I’m an unimportant member with only two plots. So I’m not a rich landowner, but my little person saw in our world the possibility of offering a little culture. That, I think, is the whole point of DCL. Two years ago, I saved up to buy some land to house a gallery where I could exhibit a bit of French history. I met a good person who offered to share my passion with you. I’m a collector of tokens minted during the reign of Louis XIV. This may be of little importance to you, but I must explain my approach.

My wish is to share my passion and my knowledge, I ask nothing in return. I’ve spent some money, but that’s nothing compared to the potential that each and every one of us wishes to offer our community. I would never make a profit from our community. In a few years’ time I may sell a few NFTs, but my aim is not to make a fortune. I only wish to share my passion and knowledge in this field in the hope that it will benefit us all.

Over the past few months, DCL, under the impetus of certain DAO members, has reached a dead end. An impasse due to their incompetence as managers.

Today, we are asked to vote on the usefulness of an “Executive Council” to resolve all these years of incompetent management.

But the question we need to ask ourselves is who will benefit from this Executive Council.

To us, the ordinary members? No.

To those who have known DCL for many years?

In all objectivity: Yes.

DCL’s funds have been squandered by its current members. They don’t know what to do to get out of it. And with what’s left of their notoriety, they’re asking us to endorse a new system that will enable them to “whitewash” their incompetence. Why should we let this happen to us? After all, power belongs to our community, and therefore to us. Not theirs!

They are offering us, on a silver platter, a 5-headed system giving them even more decision-making power. If we accept this and give them full power, we lose our freedom of creation, management and expression. We lose the concept of “decentralization” which is the very basis of what we believe in.

Let me remind you that, like you, I am nothing, but all together we are a lot. We are the DCL community and we must refuse this exploitation, this orientation which is not ours and which goes against our freedom, the freedom of the DCL community.

Admittedly, our system isn’t perfect, but it’s still in its infancy. We are under no obligation whatsoever to offer a “blank check” to those who govern us and want to enslave us by any “stratagem” with a view to consolidating their power over us, their “hidden” and unjustified source of income under the pretext of conforming to a possible normality that runs counter to what brings us all together: creation, freedom in all its forms and anonymity. Because we’re here on DCL to express ourselves freely, without having to answer to anyone in our real lives. That’s what WEB3 is all about and what we expect from it.

That’s why I invite you to say “NO” to this Executive Council. To say “NO” to the extinction of your freedom. AND ALSO TO VOTE “YES” to the counter-proposal I’m posting about.

For the record, I’m 55 years old and have been managing companies in France for over 35 years. I’m not rich but I’m still involved in the French economy, and what’s happening is not good for us.

Let’s keep it simple, let’s stay free in this virtual world we’ve been offered.

You have until January 03, 2025 to express yourself and support our opposition to this Executive Council project which goes against our freedoms.

You want to escape to a world free of servitude.

You want to have fun in our virtual world.

This “famous Executive Council” is not the solution. You need to choose new decision-makers to improve our system.

Every vote counts. If you can afford it, buy a few hundred or even a quarter of a vote.

2 Likes
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Thank you for the building contract which allowed me to break ground in DCL, in the true spirit of the Way of the American Dream :pray:

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autonomous federal initiatives are fine like shared amenities (like a running clock as been poled before) are nice imo but the way we are set up is not hospitable to an executive branch, if you want to be a leader or a prime minister then buy an estate and be your own leader or prime minister on your own land.

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It should be noted that pages such as Decentraland DAO and transparency/[…]/members.csv currently hold incorrect information.

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Council formation centralizes power giving too much control to a few individuals

This proposal is now in status: FINISHED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes 73% 1,380,635 VP (37 votes)
  • No 0% 0 VP (0 votes)
  • Invalid question/options 27% 535,311 VP (4 votes)
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Council formation centralizes power giving too much control to a few individuals

This proposal has been PASSED by a DAO Committee Member (0xfb1afa4dc069ffb47b19dbee196045d508fcd5a2)

8

I gave a solution before but nobody read or voted on it…

1 Like
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There does seem to be a serious lack of proper notification of important initiatives for the whole of the DAO community.