Ethics Statement
🔺 Working Document 🔺 Author: Ratio 🔺 Date: 26 Nov 2024 🔺
Purpose
This document outlines relevant actions to be conducted in an ethical and moral manner while executing the community position of a governance Delegated Representative, or DRep. The document will list unacceptable actions and areas where caution should be used. These items are not exhaustive but should be concide enough to provide a broad picture of the DRep's values and character.
Background
In early 2021 breaking into the Cardano Community was difficult in any actionable way outside of the "YOLO-ing" and "to the moon" crowds. After some research, and time, more opportunities became available and eventually there was a feeling of camaraderie. Until... Interacting with the Cardano Catalyst crowd was difficult. There were (are) people entrenched in the system. Some even manipulated the distribution of funds. Of course there is no proof. Why? Absolutely no transparency.
Aside from this manipulative crowd, hiding behind the facades of "community" instances of "community" included organizations attempting to consolidate massive amounts of CNTs, Cardano Native Tokens, during distributions events without providing much, if anything, in return. So much for COMMUNITY. There were other instances of, essentially, "no pay, no work." Now everyone's time is worth something. As are their skills. More importantly, everyone's financial situation is different. Ultimately these shortcomings are what drove me to remain active until canine chemotherapy required out-of-town travel once a week. Eventually the inevitable happened causing a slow withdrawal from all blockchain communities in 2022, resulting in a two year hiatus. We all process differently.
Having returned in October of 2024, at a critical juncture in Cardano's future, the bitter tastte of plutocracy, and limited/scattered/opaque data, remains. More than ever the community needs leaders, delegates, and other members to step up and protect those who are oblivious to the undue influence and ambiguities, and to right this ship that is the Cardano blockchain. Four draft constitutions later and BOHICA. Let's do better for a better future, a better you and an even stronger community.
The DRep Will:
- never accept bribes, payments, or the like, unless explicitly voted on by the community through official channels;
- always act in the best interest of the community and delegates;
- never vote based on
self-interest; - confer with delegates via polls, or other means, prior to placing any governance vote;
- never pay, incentivize or otherwise enrich any community member for their delegation;
- be as transparent as humanly possible currently available resources -
i.e. X / Twitter, Discord, Github; - interfere, question, dissent any governance action(s) that are blatantly plutocratic in nature;
- assist any and all community members with delegating, or redelegating, to a DRep;
- be available for questions, discourse, or the like, at hours acceptable to all delegates -
i.e. multiple events; - never undermine delegators desires;
can you think of any more?
Closing
Just as in 2021, there has never been any attempt at financial gain if those actions can be interpreted as "at the expense of others" in the community, delegates or not. The idea, goal, and drive is to make Cardano a fair blockchain where everyone matters, all votes count and the word "community" truly means something. If you're looking for a delegate, or just have questions about governance, THIS DRep is here to help.