A lot has happened over the last week and a half, a lot of unplanned, unorganized events that I believe could be heading to something pretty amazing for this platform. What I realized though, is those of us who were in the eye of the storm didn’t realize that even with all the information we were putting out.. things were still very confusing. Actually, I take that back.. we knew it was confusing, because we ourselves were confused. As we were thrown into the chaos as well, with no clear direction. Then we needed to make sense of it all, while we were still figuring it out ourselves, and explain it to the public. I would say we all learned quite a bit from the events and think a lot can be said for what was accomplished in the circumstances given.
All transcripts are open and the new group will be working on a document that summarizes all events, times lines, etc into one place to make it easier for individuals to find and therefore hopefully helps them understand a bit more. The new group is just getting settled though, so that is not quite ready yet.
Today though I just want to talk about my experience, and my personal perspective on it all.
This is nothing official for the group.. this is my blog and my personal opinions. Which means if you don’t like it, flag me not them, as I am not speaking for them. This is just my personal take, in my normal rambling fashion, of my experience so far.
How it all began
This question has been asked a lot, and while I know how this specific situation started, I don't know what caused the idea to come up now.
The idea of a foundation in this nature was discussed previously by Ned and he even shared some documents to show a bit of that in the initial voice meeting within the new discord server. You can find them pinned in the "voice-text' channel there if you would like to take a look.
But the initial "idea" in this situation came from a simple message put out in multiple public discord servers as well as in private slack groups;
A simple message asking for suggestions of who should be involved from the community. My understanding is that individuals recommended people privately and publicly then 24hrs later he had 14 names - crimsonclad, aggroed, whatsup, upheaver, llfarms, howo, starkerz, elear, steemcafe, gargon, thecryptodrive, pgarcgo, bobinson, and reggaemuffin. Then we were all pulled into a group chat. The full transcript of the discussion in that group chat can be seen Here.
Why all the secrets?
Well, there were no secrets. Yes, the initial discussion started in a private slack group but it was brought up immediately that it needed to be moved to an open to the public discord server (as you can see in the transcripts linked above), then as soon as possible the transcript was asked to be published. No further talks were had other than what has been posted publicly and now everything is open for all to see in the Discord Server.
Why is it so unorganized and rushed?
While in the original slack chat we discussed that it needed to be opened up to the public for more nominations of those that should be involved n the actual foundation.. which resulted in hundreds of names. Since this call for nominees had no real details or description of what was being asked for, the results should not be surprising. The truth is, we didn't actually know what was needed though.. we were still figuring it out. The push for it to be "fully transparent" lead to us doing things before actually knowing what we needed.
The intent was good, the push for full transparency came directly from Ned and I applaud him for it. We just didn't quite understand what we were getting ourselves into at the time.
We then had the discord server set up and moved conversations there. (Final transcripts of the slack conversation Here). The group chose Crimsonclad, Aggroed, and myself to help lead it in the right direction and I was asked to make the actual discord server. The idea was to go and discuss with the original 14 nominees how to get this thing structured and organized so we could open it to the public. After seeing the out pouring of nominees on the initial post, I think we realized we needed to get ahead of this a bit.. as we had no direction.
What happened next was not what I expected, because individuals outside of the 14 were showing up asking questions.. and we didn't even have any channels set up on the discord.. we had been there less than 5 minutes. When I asked why we had opened it up already when I was under the impression we were going to discuss how best to do this, I was told that he felt it was important to have all nominees there. I later found out that the link had been shared in multiple discord servers.. and we had people showing up by the masses.
Again, intent to be transparent and open I applaud.. but structure is important in these situations and this decision lead to mass confusion, frustration, accusations and additional work from those just trying to help.
It was then quickly suggested that we needed to have a voice chat asap to figure out our next step.. without announcement some jumped on voice chat and started.. I was so busy trying to organize the discord, I didn't even notice. Eventually we got most of the individuals there into a voice chat and started to discuss the idea of this all and what we needed to do next.
This lead to some amazing conversations and ultimately the idea that the community should be involved in every aspect of the foundation, including how it would work. Therefore we would gather "proposals" from the community itself on how they felt the whole entire foundation should be structured and we would let the community vote on what idea they liked most.
We needed a group to start this process though, a group that would be responsible to ensure it was done fairly, and a group that would then step away. This group would not be involved in the decision making process of how the foundation would work or what would be funded, they were only there to gather said proposals and present them to the public. As well as running the discord and communicating with the public.
The idea of a "working group" of 11 or 12 people was decided upon and Ned asked for nominees from the group of about 100 people who had gathered on the voice chat. Nominees were seconded, multiple times and the group "carried" on the initial list. The conversation was recorded, but unfortunately the audio failed so all we have are Text Transcripts
Do Over
More and more individuals were showing up and the election of the initial Working Group was called into question due to it not being "announced publicly", which was seen as unfair. I think it was a very valid point and considering that we wanted to be truly the community's it was only fair to let them decide this as well. Even though a group of 100 individuals from all walks of life and many different communities were present and involved in the discussion, it wasn't announced, which is a fair complaint.
I also truly believe these statements were made from pure misunderstanding of what the "working group" even was, and it was perceived by those showing up that this was some board of this yet to be determined foundation that would have access to some sort of funding. As well as thinking this was some sort of group that would governance over all of Steem, and that is just not in the scope of this foundation or working group at all.
So it was decided that instead of moving forward with the organizing of how to accept proposals from the community, the just elected working group would plan an election.. for an official, community elected "working group." This caused a bit of confusion, as now we were asking for additional nominees for something completely different than what we had asked for previously. Trying to explain the difference, and the reason for the change was a bit tough as we had already put information out with another goal in mind.
Essentially we paused the original task to now have an election for the "working group" so we could then move forward with the next phase.
I think possibly if the group was explained in a clear way, these concerns could have been addressed without a full blown week long election, but we live and learn.. and now the public has had a say. Which was the ultimate goal anyways. The truth is that this was an amazing idea that developed naturally and organically, while being fully open to the public.. which meant that somethings weren't completely "clear" from the start. I feel that certain decisions were made to ensure that it was community focused from the start and while these did possibly lead to confusion and additional work... I feel those decisions were what was best if this foundation is to be legitimate.
After a bumpy start things are moving in the right direction and I am optimistic this foundations future, even though I have reservations of some of the things involved and am in a "watch and wait" mentality while trying to do my best to help it reach its full potential, in whatever way I can.
What brought this on?
The "why now?" and "why ask for community involvement now?", I have no idea.. maybe he finally realized the community here is where the true value is, maybe he realized not using the amazing resource of talented, intelligent and passionate members of this platform to help him achieve his goals of making Steem great was an oversight.. and it was time to do something different. Maybe its just all misdirection to entertain the masses so we ignore the other blaring issues.. I guess only time will tell.
Let's just not burn it down before we even give it a chance to be successful...
From being involved in it so far, I am leaning to the first two, but future actions will be the true test of the reason behind it. Words only count for so much, you have to back them up with actions.
I can say I have not forgotten the other blaring issues and this foundation is not distracting me... but it's an opportunity for this community to work together to improve this place we call home. It is an opportunity for the community to actively be apart of important decisions, and I can't help but want to be a part of that. When an individual or group is making small changes to me it shows they want to improve, and I don't expect everything to be fixed overnight.
I do feel this is a step in the right direction though, and am optimistic of what is to come.
How did I get here?
I am not entirely sure, and have asked myself that question a few times over the last week ha. I was told someone in a discord server recommended me as I was someone they felt was trustworthy. I just have to say that that statement alone makes everything I have every done here worth it, so thank you to whoever you are.
I believe I am "here" in this situation, not as a top witness, high stake holder or as an "influential" individual.. I think I am here to represent the community. All of the community, and I take that pretty seriously. I have stuck out this insane situation as I feel that full transparency as well as ensuring what is best for the whole community, rather than a small group, is an important part of this.
I have pledged to do just that as long as the community would like me to. This also means that I am not "loyal" to one side or the other, but to what is right by the community and only that. Which means I will say what needs to be said, when it needs to be said.. even if that might be not the best thing for my "Steem Profile". I have no desire to have a role in leadership of this future foundation and have said so publicly many times. My only goal is to try to ensure that this process is done in the absolute most transparent and fair way possible, as well as to ensure the community's needs are considered.
After that is all done, I will step away and cheer from the sidelines.
Recently my intentions with being involved in this have been questioned, which isn't really that new as my intentions are questioned frequently. I think the idea that someone is actually doing something to not benefit themselves, but the greater good, is hard to understand for some people. Especially those that always are thinking of their own self interests, even if they wrap it in a pretty package to make it "look" like they are doing it for some other reason.
The idea that I am hungry for some sort of "fame" or want some sort of monetary gains has been spouted on about lately. Which I find quite interesting as if those were my true intentions, there are way easier ways here to be popular and make money...rather than working your ass off behind the scenes.. but that is a post for another day.
My actions on this platform should speak to what my true intentions are, and well.. that's all I can offer.
People can make their own assumptions, that's just part of being in a social environment. It's what we all signed up for, and unjust criticism just comes along with the territory. I have accepted that.
I can only stay true to my values, my beliefs and try to do the best I can, and that's what I intend to do.
What is to come next is up to us, The Steem Community as a whole. It's our time to step up and be a part of the solution. It's our time to stop complaining about all the things that need to change, and instead be a part of that change.
It is our time to show the world what this community has to offer because while a blockchain is impressive, this community is where the value is. A strong community working together on said blockchain is revolutionary and it's what makes Steem so far ahead of the rest.. we just have to get our shit together.
I hope my ramblings helped to show a bit of a personal "insider" side of the events that occurred as well as sharing my own personal thoughts. I also hope that you will all join me in the endeavor, so we can all work together to do the most good. While not forgetting that we have other problems that need to be dealt with as well, or this all might be for nothing.
We are all in this together...
Much Love and Steem On,
Justine
Please excuse my horrible grammar and typos.. I like to blog in a "freewrite" style that is simply sharing my thoughts rather than worrying about formatting or making it "perfect".