Moving FWB to a Single Membership Tier

Author: Proposal initiated by Drew Coffman; Refined by Willa Koerner, HYP TV, Brendan Donovan, Kaitlyn Davies

Abstract

If passed, this proposal would streamline FWB membership into one group at the 75 $FWB level---meaning all DAO members would have access to the full spectrum of FWB benefits. At the same time, it would enable anyone holding any amount of $FWB to access a selection of the DAO's offerings, detailed below. While this proposal would eliminate the "Local" 5 $FWB membership tier, the intention is to transition into a future where we do a better job supporting all members, while simultaneously opening up points of access to those who want to participate without officially joining.

Background

The Local membership tier was initially proposed as a way to make FWB's in-person events more accessible. In addition to granting entry to IRL events, the Local tier also included access to a small set of city-based Discord channels. Over time, Local members' Discord access was expanded---which inadvertently has blurred the lines between what it means to be a "Full" (or "Global") member versus a Local member. At this point, it's worth evaluating the challenges posed by the two-tiered membership approach, and exploring whether there are better ways to steward the DAO's core community into the future.

Challenges this Proposal Aims to Solve:

Local members are having a subpar experience.

While it was originally intended as an access point for FWB events and location-based networking, over time the Local membership tier has become perceived as a way for people to "sample" the FWB membership experience. However, it was never designed to serve this purpose---meaning many Local members who expect a lightweight version of FWB membership are having a subpar experience.

Having two types of members makes FWB more confusing, and less cohesive.

By having two tiers, we have inadvertently created confusion instead of cohesion---resulting in a poorer ultimate experience for both member groups. For example, because Local members don't know what Discord channels they're missing out on, there is consistent misuse of the channels they do have access to (such as posting classifieds info in #General, etc). Additionally, Local members who aren't in major cities (Los Angeles, New York, or London) don't really have access to anything beyond a small selection of Discord channels, which can make them question why they joined. Lastly, having two different membership tiers has resulted in two different sets of application standards, which doesn't seem fair.

The new FWB mobile app can't easily support a two-tiered membership model.

We are working towards the launch of fwb.app, a mobile app that revolves around a unique identity NFT that will be airdropped to each member granting entry into the FWB ecosystem (you can demo the fwb.app here). We hope this new app will serve as a home base for our membership, and that it will provide more utility and organization than the Discord is able to. However, developing the app to suit our current two-tiered membership model would significantly complicate the user experience, and be much more costly to build out---making now an opportune time to transition away from the Local membership tier, in favor of another accessible point of entry into the FWB community.

Proposed Solution

Effective January 15, 2023, this proposal would:

Merge the Local and Global tiers into one official FWB membership tier. 

As of the merge, to be an official FWB member you must hold at least 75 $FWB. Prospective new members must go through the existing application process.

Make select FWB content, products, and events open to anyone holding $FWB.

To offer broader access to our community---and as a way to "sample" the FWB experience ---FWB will begin to make select offerings available to anyone holding various amounts of $FWB. This would include free access to TL;DR, our digital events archive, and read-only access to the FWB Intranet app. IRL and local events would also be accessible to $FWB token holders.

Honor existing Local members for 90 days---and most-active Local members forever.

Local members who were already a part of FWB at the time of this proposal passing will be given access to full membership benefits for a 90 day period. This includes access to all Discord channels and events, as well as entry into the FWB app once it’s launched. Additionally, the 25 most active existing Local members will be given enough $FWB tokens to upgrade their membership to the 75 $FWB level on behalf of the community. (Activity will be determined based on Discord usage and event participation.)

$FWB-Holder Access vs. Membership Access

	$FWB Token Access	Full Membership: 75 $FWB
Application required	No	Yes
IRL events	Yes	Yes, Plus 1
Digital events	No	Yes
Discord	No	Yes
TL;DR	Yes	Yes
Digital events archive	Yes	Yes
FWB App	Read Only	Full Access: Profiles, Identity, Authorship

Potential Proposal Benefits

• Consolidating membership into a single, streamlined experience would make it easier to design, implement, and communicate member benefits.

• Enabling anyone holding any amount of $FWB to access a selection of FWB content and products without applying will make "sampling" FWB frictionless---without taking away from the full membership experience. 

• Having one single membership level will allow for smoother migration and onboarding into the fwb.app, where access to the FWB ecosystem will be granted by an identity NFT.

• The Discord will be less confusing, as everyone will have access to the same channels.

Potential Proposal Drawbacks

• Becoming an FWB member would be much less affordable, which will make official entry into our member community less accessible---which could result in less overall diversity

• If Local members don't upgrade their membership, there may be fewer members overall, and less activity in the Discord.

• Community members Brendan Donovan, Ally Norton, and HYP wrote a document compiling a longer list of counterpoints to this proposal. Read it here.

Additional Voting Information

This vote will be executed via Snapshot. Because this vote more heavily impacts Local members (who likely hold only 5 $FWB), we will be using a quadratic voting strategy requiring a quorum of 40K tokens. Quadratic voting limits whales' power to sway a vote while lifting up the voices of those with smaller holdings.

Proposal FAQs

Q: If Local membership is eliminated, how can we make FWB membership more accessible?

A: The current proposal seeks to upgrade the 25 most active Local members based on Discord usage and event attendance. However, the intention is to have a larger discussion around accessibility initiatives once there is consensus around moving to a single tier. Community member Alarke Alarke has also proposed a scholarship fund, and discussion has been started around utilizing our Fellowship program to onboard more members.

Q: What will people who hold 5 $FWB still be able to access? And what will they lose access to?

A: Existing Local members who continue to hold 5 $FWB after this proposal is enacted would no longer have access to the Discord, digital events, or to the full offerings of the in-development FWB app—but would still be able to use their $FWB to attend local events, and will still have access to a limited selection of FWB content and products. Local members who were already a part of FWB at the time of this proposal passing will be given access to full membership benefits for a 90 day period. This includes access to all Discord channels and events, as well as entry into the FWB app once it’s launched. Local members who join after this proposal passes will not receive access to this 90 day period.

Q: How many Local members will this impact?

A: While there are currently ~1,200 Local members, many of them do not participate on a regular basis. While it's difficult to gauge how many of these members are active at IRL events, Discord data shows that of the 1,300 messages posted on average every day, only ~30 are posted by Local members---meaning that just 2% of posts come from Local members.

Q: What channels can't locals see?

A: Local members can see approximately 50% of FWB's channels. Full members have access to a variety of channels including classifieds, creative channels for filmmakers and musicians, learning channels about DAOs, crypto, and social tokens, lifestyle channels including health-and-wellness, music, plants-and-animals, and selfies-and-fits, an NFT category including the most active channel in the entire discord, trading crypto channels, and more.

Q: Why keep the main tier at 75 $FWB? Can we take this opportunity to reimagine what FWB membership looks like?

This proposal is not intended to completely overhaul FWB membership; instead, it's intended as a way to solve a few current challenges, and put us on a more sustainable path. This proposal to move to a singular tier will make it easier for us to further reimagine what FWB membership can be, holistically. Think of this as a first step.

Q: How will we generate more interest and value for the 75 $FWB membership?

A: Through the roll-out of the fwb.app, we hope to offer FWB's first meaningful "Post-Discord" product that brings deeper connection and conversation to the FWB ecosystem. Additionally, we hope that having a dedicated, FWB-owned distribution channel will improve member communications, governance notifications, and more. Additionally, through the levelsetting of FWB membership into one tier, we will be able to experiment with more egalitarian voting structures, such as one member one vote, that should boost economic activity and innovation within the FWB ecosystem.