Overview

Proposal

Responses

Hey Hodlon,

Thanks again for making the proposal to create a dedicated governance Discord channel. I discussed it with Rosmari after the event on Thursday then thought about this for a while and got inspired to write more feedback over the past few days.

I agree it's a good idea to have a more organized space for governance-related discussions and updates. I'm voting yes because I support the idea of adding the governance channel, though I don't fully understand or agree with all of the examples in your proposal. You can see my thoughts and reasons to help improve our communications and governance processes on this page.

While writing this I also started testing out Discord’s features and came up with some other ideas that I think can help improve our communication and governance processes. I’d appreciate any feedback and am curious to hear more thoughts about this 😃

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Proposal
• Responses
• Problem Statement
• Suggested Solution
• Adding #Governance vs Restricting #General
• Event Promotions and Announcements
• Cross-Posting Important Messages
• Questions for Hodlon
• More Solutions
• Joining Snapshot Spaces and Configuring Email Reminders
• Using Discord Threads
• Using Discord Forums
• Benefits of Forum Channels
• Enabling Community Features
• Additional Tools with Community Features
• Implementation and Next Steps
• Creating Guidelines for Channels
• Conclusion

Problem Statement

Currently the general channel is used for various updates, event invitations, topic proposals, general discussions, and much more. The problem that I see with this (and what I think is the main intention behind this proposal) is that this wide variety of posts makes it easy to miss important governance proposals and discussions.

Suggested Solution

I think we should solve this by creating a #governance channel in discord where we post each poll/proposal that’s made on the Optimism Fractal snapshot space, then using this channel for more focused discussions about governance matters. This governance channel will help centralize active proposals and discussions about them, which should make it easier for members to find and engage with governance updates.

Tthe following three sections provide more details about this. Below that there are some questions and ideas for further refinement, such as organizing discussions into discord threads for each proposal in the #governance channel or converting the governance channel into a discord forum.

Adding #Governance vs Restricting #General

I appreciate and fully agree with the intention to provide a more focused place for governance, but I think we can do this by adding a governance channel and I don’t see a need to change what is posted in the general channel at this point. There is value in having high visibility and free-flowing space for important discussions, announcements, or proposals in the general chat. If we moderate or restrict the messages too much in the general chat then it could fracture the discussion, hinder the natural flow of the conversation, confuse community members, or exclude too much valuable content from the general chat.

Event Promotions and Announcements

I think that event promotions, general announcements, and other important updates should stay in the general channel to maintain their visibility. For example, the event promotions don’t really fit in the governance channel and promoting the events is essential for the community’s growth, so it makes sense to make the event promotions very easy to find. Some of these announcements are also related to Optimism Town Hall topics which can change from week to week and cover a wide variety of topics, so it makes sense to keep them in the general chat where everyone can more easily stay up to date.

Cross-Posting Important Messages

I think that it’s best to allow people to cross-post governance proposals or announcements in both the general and governance channels. This way everyone stays informed with the higher visibility of the general channel and we have a focused space for governance matters. Another option is to move some announcements like promotions or approved proposals into a separate announcements channel (and there can be a lot of value in this as well), though I think would still probably make sense for these to be cross-posted in the general chat to increase visibility and provide a place where the community can engage with them as well.

Questions for Hodlon

I’m curious what you meant by the following phrase: Keep #general general. Does the solution that I wrote above solve for this?

You wrote that ‘this would free up space in the #general channel for a greater diversity of posts and topics,’ though the solution that I suggested above focuses on providing a focused place for governance discussions while allowing cross-posts in the general chat for important announcements. I could see some potential value in freeing up space on the general channel too, though overall the idea of cross-posting with a more active general channel seems better to me.

Do you think that this is a good that the solution offered above provide a good alternative that accomplishes the goal of your proposal or would you prefer it to work in a different way? Or do you think any of the other potential solutions described below would help to provide what you are seeking?

More Solutions

While writing this feedback, I was also inspired to write some other ideas to help improve our communication channels and governance processes. You can see these ideas below:

Joining Snapshot Spaces and Configuring Email Reminders

Anyone can join the Optimism Fractal snapshot space and/or set up email reminders via Snapshot to stay informed about proposals and updates. This ensures you don't miss important information even if not frequently checking Discord. Here's a link to the video timestamp where we discussed email reminders on Snapshot spaces and how anyone can join them to make it easier to follow.

Using Discord Threads

We could use the Discord Threads feature in the #Governance channel for discussions about each proposal. Using threads within the governance channel can help keep discussions organized.

Using Discord Forums

Benefits of Forum Channels

Utilizing the forum feature in Discord can greatly improve the organization and aesthetics of our discussions. Compared to regular chat channels, forum channels offer several advantages:

• Greater Organization: Forum channels allow you to create individual posts for each topic, such as governance proposals or town hall topics. This helps keep discussions focused and easy to follow, as each thread can be dedicated to a specific topic or proposal.

• Improved Aesthetics: Forum channels present discussions in a more structured and visually appealing manner, making it easier for members to navigate and participate in various topics.

• Enhanced Discoverability: By using tags and sorting options, members can quickly find relevant discussions and proposals without scrolling through a long chat history.

This seems like a better way to organize governance proposals than a regular chat and can also be helpful for other purposes, like town hall topics. You can see some test examples of how these discord forums could look in the screenshots below:

Enabling Community Features

To activate the forum feature, we need to enable community features on our Discord server. Enabling community features comes with certain requirements, including:

• Verification Level Setting: Requiring verified emails on Discord to ensure that all members have a verified email address associated with their account.

• Explicit Media Content Filter: An automatic filter to block inappropriate content from being shared in the server.

• Rules or Guidelines Channel: A channel dedicated to outlining the server's rules or guidelines that all members must read and agree to.

• Compliance with Community Guidelines: Ensuring our server complies with Discord's community guidelines.

Additional Tools with Community Features

Enabling community features also provides access to other helpful tools:

• Announcement Channels: These channels can broadcast messages to other servers, which is useful for important updates and announcements.

• Community Onboarding: A feature that helps new members get oriented and integrated into the community more smoothly.

Implementation and Next Steps

I recently researched forum channels and think it could be a significant upgrade for our communication channels. However, it will require some time and focused attention to implement these changes. We need to ensure that all the requirements are suitable for Optimism Fractal.

I think we can look into this more during the summer break, though I already have a large backlog of tasks and I’m not sure how high of a priority this is compared to the others. I could quickly enable the Community Features if that’s ok with the community and set up the discord forums, then we could figure out the other features like announcement channels and community onboarding along the way.

Alternatively if someone wants to take the lead on improving our Discord (including taking care of the research, implementation of onboarding, configuring of rules and roles, announcement channels, and any other aspects) then that could be very helpful. There is a related project about this here.

Implementing these improvements could allow us to come back to Season 4 with a much more organized and functional Discord server, enhance our ability to manage and participate in discussions, and make our governance processes more efficient.

Creating Guidelines for Channels

Creating clear guidelines for using both the general and governance channels and educating members on the proper use of each can also help improve communication. Guidelines are easy to display in Discord Forums. Anyone is welcome to make another proposal to set more specific guidelines per channel if we want to further organize it.

Conclusion

I’m creating the governance channel in the Discord since proposal is now approved by the Optimism Fractal Council according to our consensus process. Anyone is welcome to make another proposal to further organize the discord or set more specific guidelines per channel. Any feedback is welcome and I’d be curious to hear any other thoughts on how best to organize the discord or governance processes.