This type of engagement is inappropriate and should not be tolerated by the DAO community, regardless of the issue that you have.
There is a real governance related debate to be had here that is part of ongoing discourse surrounding the grants appropriation process and VP distribution and use; however, targeting a fellow community member with culturally insensitive and racist remarks is not acceptable.
@Tudamoon Thereâs nothing wrong with seeking sustainability by asking fees to promote content in his live events. You lost any kind of credibility with the now deleted racist remarks.
@Vaporizador actually nothing I said was Racist. And I am not Racist. Stop with the backhands. He is actually Nigerian. Kind of find it funny you think calling someone a nationality is racist.
Is bribery any better? Should Chris be banned also for that?
Is this a one-time thing or is your team planning to request another grant on March?
Hl Yemel , We are trying to shoot for a one-time thing.Thank you Yemel!
Hi Tudamoon, I will only address you once as I am not fond of the way Iâve been addressed or spoken to via MetaTrekkersâ proposal forum.
In regards to your statement around the compensation of the DJs that perform at BeatTrekkers, every competing DJ is being compensated for their services. Those whose services have been rendered have also received payment.
Additionally, BeatTrekkers has been 100% financed by me; in other words, Iâm the person paying 100% for any and all fixed and variable costs of this event. I understand you also sought to sponsor a DJ shoutout for Holy Ones during BeatTrekkers. That further illustrates to me that you and other members of the DCL community see value in the events we hold at MetaTrekkers.
Because of the amount being invested into this and future projects, our organization tries to uphold certain standards and requirements to ensure we not only protect the investments of our NFT holders, but also those of DCL entrepreneurs and investors outside of the MetaTrekkers community. As a reminder, our events are provided to the community at no cost (free). As I may recall, youâve attended several of our events in the past, that again, were held at no cost to the attendees. Many of our goals include uplifting others in this space. Some of our events, for instance, provide a platform for artists, such as yourself, in the metaverse by showcasing their art (e.g., Fan Art Friday [FAF]) or wearables (e.g., Wearable Wednesdays [WW]) during MetaTrekkers Clubhouse events.
Lastly and most importantly, Iâd like to address the most disappointing and hurtful item you brought forth in your comments. In one of your now-deleted comments, you referred to me as a âNigerian Princeâ and said that my efforts in this space were âSCAMSâ. Not only do I not appreciate the slander, but I also am sickened by racism being brought into a space where one of the main goals/objectives is to build a community. Just because someone is âblackâ doesnât mean they are from Nigeria. Also I see the way you attacked CK bubbles in the chat group, bullying and discriminating is not the way to go! It hurts to have experienced racism in this platform, a place where Iâve learned so much, gained new friends that are now family, and am looking to continue to grow. Diversity of thought AND people is what has helped shaped Decentraland to the unique place within web3 that it is today.
As a leader in this space, I will not stand or tolerate this type of action. I hope the community can push out this rhetoric and mindset and continue to flourish in the world of inclusivity.
If there is anything else you wish to discuss, please reach out to me personally. Regardless of everything discussed here today, I wish you continued success on all your endeavors.
Every MetaTrekker or anyone of the DCL community, please feel free to contact me at chris@metatrekkers.io if you feel you are being attacked, discriminated, manipulated or bullied. Letâs stay together and continue to work hard to grow this community with no set backs
Respectfully,
Chris Oniya
A Multi-disciplinary Platform to Onboard the Biggest Arts & Entertainment Names
This proposal is now in status: PASSED.
Voting Results:
Actually this was to help support your event. It was supposed to be mutual respect. The Holy Ones have been around way longer than Metatrekkers.
False Claim, I dont remember going to one of your beattrekkers events. I came to your Birthday bash because I knew BVerse.
In other words, you need to promote your community by riding the coattails of others?
I referred to your project âLife of Muskâ as a Nigerian Prince NFT project. You probably are familiar being born in Nigeria. Culture hits close to home right? Itâs ok I am Jewish, way more of a minority than you. So if you want to pull some cards, I am readyâŚ
You are. I have done my research. I read an article on your brother and yeah it said you were born in Nigeria, was your brother lying?
Can you share that? Another false attack. Man you are great at lying. She even admitted on the chat to misreading it. So your false claims similar to your Linkedin profile doesnât help your case?
Victim Mentality much? Can you please share with everyone the racism? Because as far as I am aware I am pretty offended of you calling me a racist. According to your own rules, these false claims should be banned⌠Havenât seen any of your evidenceâŚ
hahahaahhahahahhah. How dare I speak to your godliness? I misunderstood. Now I know you are the King.
Is this a Hotline? 1-800-IM-OFFENDED?
Why not actually produce something of value? I am confused. Everyone who passed this, Can you answer 1 question? How is this growing Decentraland? Since this has started, our numbers have fell. I rather donate my money to the people in Nigeria than to this (which this proposal does absolutely nothing). Next time just make a grant proposal to send the starving kids in Nigeria $240,000. It would honestly do more work than this will do.
I donât know about anyone else, but I dont want my leaders having this victim mentality. I want my leaders here to be strong and make something happen. We need Decentraland to be GREAT, not full of victims. I stay away from the victims, I stick with people who build real value and who want great things. All positivity! I will not stand for crap proposals that have not proven any results.
Will someone remind me of the amount of users Decentraland had when these Metatrekkers events started and what the amount of users are currently? According to the market, it didnt provide any new value or sustainable value, instead it looks like just internal back-patting. I can back-pat for free, how does this provide $240,000 worth of value again?
Great point Yemel, I hope this is a one time thing, i also hope the grant money isnât being used to buy any land as compensation to others⌠I know the DAO doesnât favor using grant money to purchase LAND. Iâm sure @MetaTrekkers will do the right thing with the grant funds. Letâs hope at least!
So because of this we have to pay for it? Do you realize how many events people put on for free to help the community? You are showing your true colors.
Did this happen? When is this event?
Sounds like Metatrekkers only benefittedâŚ
Can anyone confirm that it brought in new Latinx?
How much of this funds breakdown is going to Chris Oniya? How much are you pocketing?
Prove this claim please. I have only seen less users on DCL over the last few months. Can you prove this claim?
A Multi-disciplinary Platform to Onboard the Biggest Arts & Entertainment Names
This proposal has been ENACTED by a DAO Committee Member (0xfe91c0c482e09600f2d1dbca10fd705bc6de60bc)
Vesting Contract Address: 0x0BB8270345bf29c2Bb57c84E454830C4a0A6BaF4
View Transaction
We need this proposal to be granted, easy yes for me as it should be.
Hi, I am wondering about how this grant is going, I read the update, but I did not see any metrics there. I saw your post on Twitter with votes: https://twitter.com/MetaTrekkers/status/1595613484321951744
Total:
Mr. BigMouth - 8
Guccitoe - 6
What does it mean? That 14 people in total voted? Can you provide some info about how many people are attending your events?
Also in your proposal you are writing
Then why so little of the grant is going to DJs/Artists? (12K DJ Artist and 10K Competition prizes)
@Zino How come this update is in good âhealthâ when there is concerns for misleading information? They claimed to have not had the time to complete their Roadmap for November due to the IRL Conference in Miami in which they had time to create and post a video about. https://twitter.com/metatrekkers/status/1602439771602956288?s=46&t=_g-TYsxCyZ5srUCHNOeM_Q
However they have not announced a change to their roadmap and as of now is 2 weeks behind their Roadmap with a lack of communication on their update on why they have failed to have the event they promised.
I think it is completely misleading of Decentraland and the Grant Squad to allow a project to be in good health, when they are not being factual on their updates. They essentially lied. They did not complete all their events. I even made them aware of that prior to them posting this update. They chose to NOT DISCLOSE the truth.
Dear Community,
The Grant Support Squad was created to support the grantees in achieving their goals and taking care of the DAO treasury.
We would like to bring to your attention our conclusion regarding some concerns that we, and the community, have about the project in question.
Letâs dive into the objective points analyzed:
1. There are differences between what is written in the original proposal, the full description, Canva presentation, Grantee´s comments and the budget breakdown.
The Original proposal for this project was called âA Multi-disciplinary Platform to Onboard the Biggest Arts & Entertainment Namesâ. However, in the full description said âA Multi-disciplinary Platform Designed to Boost Decentraland Notoriety and Onboard the Biggest Arts & Entertainment Namesâ
Weâre aware that the title has a character limit (80 characters) but it is important to mention this, because could be used as a justification in some of the goals of the proposal. In short, this could create an important and significant misunderstanding to the voter.
Why? Because it is not the same to onboard artists than to boost Decentraland and onboard artists, as well.
In the âroadmap and milestonesâ section of the proposal, it is written that 12 events will happen. However, in the Canva presentation, particularly in the Budget proposal, the grantee wrote that $24.000 will be destined to 36 Venue Partner Support.
Then, in the comments section of the proposal, the grantee explained: âIn the proposal it states that we are working with 36 venues in DCL. Pre Event, Main Event and Post Event. We are doing this for a total of 12 weeks.12 *3=36 For the most part itâs a different Venue each time. Venue compensation will serve as a token of appreciation to the partner venues. It will compensate the venuesâ efforts during the event including manpower, setup preparations, and promotions. (No venue partner has asked for this, but we feel an obligation to let them know we are thankful for their support) We are trying to make a win-win situation for everyone, the community has to win in order for DCL to win! I hope I answered your questions and thank you for your kind remarks.â
We asked the Grantee about these events (Pre Event, Main Event, and Post Event) and the response was that these were âextraâ events, because the proposal said 4 events per month corresponding to the BeatTrekkers Dj Events. Then, the Grantee proves the payments done regarding the extra events.
In our view, the funds were requested to pay for the venues of the 12 battles and not to compensate for all the âextraâ events because these last were not part of the original proposal. There were no goals. In short, this may be seen as a misuse of funds.
2. Milestones and Goals.
2.A) September:
The grantee sent us the corresponding documents but with a month of difference. The conclusion is that the goal is overdue.
We asked the grantee if they could describe what is âpreparation talksâ and -according to the Grantee´s answer- basically is a literal expression. So, during September they claimed they would collaborate with Dragon City to have 3 artists perform, which would happen during January 2023.
So our view is that this point is not clear enough, but it was what they wrote in the proposal and what the community voted on. In short, they promise preparation talks and they have done it. Even though the goal stated was not entirely clear, we consider it as achieved.
The Grantee explained to us that this means 1 battle per week and, according to their agenda, the battles were:
Even though the goal stated was not entirely clear, they explained that these 4 events correspond to the mentioned Milestone.
The goal is achieved.
2.B) October
According to Grantee´s agenda, the battles were:
One of the Djs was changed.
The justification regarding this was âthe southwestern coast of Florida where Gucci Toe, one of the competing DJs for this battle, resides. He was supposed to perform the last week of September but couldnât because the storm impacted his home. He asked for a one-week delay, which we granted given the natural disaster he experienced. He reached out again and asked for an additional week delay as he still was recovering from the disaster. Instead of delaying the battles any longer, we had another tournament team switch and perform instead.â
Then, the Grantee showed a private conversation with the DJ but they didnât get permission to share and they informed this in their dedicated channel.
In our opinion, this point is achieved.
The grantee didn´t explain this point. But regarding the topic âeventsâ, they explained that it was a misunderstanding from their side when the grant´s funds were available to claim, so, they didn´t have enough funds to finance this event.
The rules are clear and written on the grant documents. In our view, this couldn´t be a justification. Therefore, the goal is not achieved.
This goal was achieved.
Decentraland Events Page:
2.C) November:
According to update#2, the grantee wrote: âProblem: The LoSmoothe concert was originally set for November however because we donât want to divert any attention from Art Basel, we have decided to postpone it. The main reason is we donât want to divide peopleâs attention and make them enjoy more metaverse events.
Solution: We found a date that we can focus on the concert and have a wider reach of audiences. The concert is now set on December 14, 2022. Despite the postponement, we made sure that our materials are ready and on time once we started our campaign and promotions.â
We asked them, specifically for this goal, and the answer was âWhen we planned this event we noticed that a large part of the web 3 community members (especially many that we are friends, collaborators, and professional associates with) were attending Art Basel and metaverse events in Miami. Some of these events included DCentral Con, Metaverse Miami, and Women of Web3. A good number of the Decentraland Foundation was also participating and attending events that week. I, then, made the decision to wait for our concert so that regular users who traveled to Miami could also watch our concert in DCL. I contacted Zino for approval in which he advised me to communicate it in the channel, which I did. Since we prepare quite a bit at the beginning of the month for DJ battles, we prefer to have concerts at the end of the month. Because of the previously mentioned, we decided to hold the concert in December.â
To our understanding, this point is overdue at least 1 month and the explanation given by the grantee may be seen as an excuse, as it does not align with the stated goal of the proposal, which is to make the Decentraland metaverse known and accessible to new target audiences.
According to grantee´s agenda, the battles were:
This goal is achieved.
3. The big goal of this proposal is âbecome a platform for Decentraland to onboard big names in the music industryâ
The granteeâs social media does not have enough followers and the posts are not having enough range.
The Grantee explained that they do not have a typical marketing campaign, quote âThis (marketing) strategy is not a normal strategy, this is what the marketing company has usedâ. But is a marketing campaign, doesn´t matter if is typical or not, and the answer looks ambiguous. The Grantee explained that they do not have a typical marketing campaign, quote âThis (marketing) strategy is not a normal strategy, this is what the marketing company has usedâ. But it is a marketing campaign, it doesn´t matter if it is typical or not, and the answer looks ambiguous. Then, they explained that the marketing focus is that the users remember their product (Metatrekkers) and come back to their events/venue.
Then, they wrote that they are doing this because of their âunique marketing methods. Itâs not the typical approach of just running adsâ.
However, in the same document they declare that âEvery week we run ads and hold workshops on Metaverse and NFTs⌠These are also our advertising/marketing tacticsâ and to prove that only show us 1 picture on Instagram, corresponding to September. We mustnât forget that in their budget they requested $20.000 for âentertainment Digital Marketing - Onboarding Adsâ. Again, there are a lot of ambiguous responses that look like only excuses.
In addition, theyâve explained that Beattrekers events (a product managed by the grantee) are number #2 into Decentraland and used that as an example to explain how much they put into marketing material.
Our point is, the funds should be used to promote the events that they promised to do and considering that, it is not clear how they are being allocated. In fact, they didn´t explain the marketing campaign, only said âis a guerrilla marketingâ. They limited the explanation to âAll events are recorded, then we have the marketing company take the material and market it out. This is what will give us a sustainable platform. We have proof of concept and material to stand the test of timeâ, but where are those records? How do they use it? The question is still unanswered, it is not clear where the funds are being allocated.
On the other hand, we shouldn´t lose the focus: the grant was requested to fund these events, and when we asked for the rest of the events (pre, etc), the Grantee answered that they are extra. And they said âFor the most part itâs a different Venue each timeâ; but from the 12 events funded, 4 were in their own venue.
So we believe that it would be appropriate for the grantee to use the funding to finance the development, marketing, and payment to artists for the Mettatrakers platform, as this aligns with the stated goal of the proposal.
If the grantee has used the funding for other purposes, it may be necessary to reassess the use of the funds and determine whether they were used in accordance with the terms of the grant. Additionally, the use of ambiguous language in the granteeâs explanations (âfor the most partâŚâ) may raise concerns about transparency and accountability in the management of the funds.
4. Artists.
Based on the information provided, it seems that the grantee has been promoting itself as an entertainment company that has partnered with the Venice Music label to host a series of concerts in the Decentraland metaverse. The Venice Music label is known for its use of NFTs and focuses on web3 technologies, and the partnership aims to promote the Decentraland metaverse and bring it to new audiences. However, based on the listeners and followers of the artists that have been brought in, it appears that these artists may not be well-known or widely popular in the music industry.
Let´s see.
LoSmoothe Artist.
https://twitter.com/iamlosmoothe , who have 74 followers on Twitter, and 1.7k listeners per month in Spotify.
The artists has 31k followers but the impressions of they post is to poor.
Youtube
The artists that should be performing during December:
Mariatu Kargbo Artist
The grantee provides to us the following link to present the artist.
https://www.instagram.com/iammaria.china/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
It´s looks like they have a lot of followers, however their posts do not reach a wide audience.
We are aware that IG is banned in China, so in our opinion the Grantee should justify why this artist is considered a Major Artist.
RU Korean Artist.
From our point of view, RU is the first and only (so far) artist with more than 50k subscribers and we could eventually classify them as an artist that could bring new and significant audiences as the grantee promised.
5. Conclusion.
In conclusion, the project is delayed; it´s not clear where the funds are being allocated; what the Grantee has proposed has not been achieved or is overdue; there are substantial differences between the roadmap written in the proposal and what the grantee is doing, principally with the objective of the project.
Additionally, it seems that they are manipulating the community to have support and to create a âwin-winâ situation for themselves, rather than prioritizing the needs and interests of the community. Why? Because they are making payments for events that there are not in the original proposal and we quote âNo venue partner has asked for this, but we feel an obligation to let them know we are thankful for their support) We are trying to make a win-win situation for everyone, the community has to win in order for DCL to win!â. No venue partner has requested these payments, but the grantee feels an obligation to thank them for their support.
Moreover, when the grantee responded to us to some raised concerns, most of what they wrote was based on showing people having meetings and pictures with them. We quote:
âHere are the entertainment events we had in Miami: MetaTrekkers Presents: Web3 & Metaverse Miami Dinner Party (Art Basel Week) | Decentraland Events
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m1p5Hrd-RSGBQaSAMioN14WPlGQKQkFb
It is worth noting that we saw in Eventbrite page is that these events in the real world werenât free, the attendees should pay for ticket . This means that the event wasnât entirely funded by the Grantee but partially (or totally) done by its attendees.
Then the grantee copied and pasted the following:
âEntertainment event with Decentraland Foundation in November.
âDiscussions and Dialogue event with Decentraland Foundation, Decentral Games, Metatrekkers community members and other active DCL community Members in November in Miami. This event means a lot to us and our community. Not just because the CEO of DCL is there, however it shows the commitment Metatrekkers has in the metaverse and how we are actively involved in DCL in real life and in the Metaverse. I hope we can be judged by our actions not by the accusations that people make against us. We wholeheartedly believe in this ecosystem and will continue to invest our team resources inside DCL as well as have good community engagement.â
Again, the grantee has focused more on presenting a positive image through photos and meetings rather than addressing the issues at hand. We believe that this behavior is dishonest and undermines the trust of the community.
A point that we want to mention is that we are aware that all the efforts that the grantee and their team are doing; however, those actions do not mitigate the raised concerns. This is an open question, but⌠what will happen when the grant funds come to an end?
In short, the granteeâs project has faced significant setbacks and there are concerns about the transparency and accountability of the granteeâs actions. It may be necessary to reassess the use of the funds and determine whether they were used in accordance with the terms of the grant. Additionally, it may be necessary to consider whether the granteeâs actions are in the best interests of the community and whether they align with the goals of the original proposal.
We recommend that the DAO Committee (@HPrivakos @yemel)should pause the Vesting Contract until all the concerns could be resolved.
The grantee must:
redefine the roadmap with clear and accountable milestones.
show the exact expenditure of funds to date.
show the planned future expenditure of funds.
show how much is currently being allocated to marketing (specify what the concrete marketing campaigns are and how much they cost; define if their marketing strategy is guerrilla marketing).
explain the relevance the artist presented and demonstrate the relevance of the audience of each one.
explain how many artists and venues are going to be funded by this grant.
