Crypto Resolutions for a 10/10 2020

People have engaged in the act of creating annual life-improvement plans since the time of the Babylonians, who made promises to their gods at the start of each year to return borrowed property and repay debts.

It sometimes seems like a degree of undue importance is put, at least in the Western world, on the changing of the calendar date from December 31st to January 1st, something which requires a very human perception of time. The age in which we live, being one of both unsettling change and great possibility will, to some people, feel like a more important time than ever to reflect and move into the next period with a greater understanding of their intended direction.

We thought that the large quantity of research and temperature-taking that we’ve undertaken this year, watching projects from afar and conducting interviews in order to get a better picture of myriad stresses and strains, positions us well to sign off and say goodbye to 2019 by sharing some possible crypto resolutions.

If you’re an organizer, store your Meetup contacts somewhere else

In October we heard that Meetup.com was possibly going to introduce RSVP fees, making it very difficult for a lot of our community to continue having physical meetings. Although they later backpedalled on this being a whole-product change, this is definitely not something to ignore. If you have an active Meetup community and you want to safeguard it against the next big change from proprietary Web 2.0 applications deciding they want more money, think of where else you can have the ability to get in contact with that community. Or you could seek to try and build something better...

Feed the dapps

dapps don't make any sense, no utility - just toys, games that are not fun to play,

Aggregators like stateofthedapps paint a pretty grim picture; as a community we need to come together more and eat our own dogfood. Been given a choice between using a dapp or not? Use the dapp. Been asked for feedback on how something works? Fill out the survey. Seen a conversation about the future of a project on Telegram? Jump in. Developers and Community Managers alike will thank you for it. There are so many people with great ideas in the space who just need a few more brain-dumps to improve their piece of the collective, decentralized puzzle.

Don’t be afraid to get involved

So, this Tweet is from earlier in 2019, but it’s still so relevant. No-one has all the answers and interdisciplinarity is something that should be central to our world-changing efforts. You miss 100% of the possible interactions that you choose not to engage in. Education is not just a top-down process.

Be kind

Too often crypto Twitter doesn’t exactly paint the greatest picture. Toxicity in online communities is the enemy of progress, and it is hardly the best welcome mat to be putting out for those on the outside looking in. It’s all too easy to hide behind the anonymity that online communications can give to us and snipe from the sidelines. Let’s focus on lifting each other up - keep your criticism constructive and put out a helping hand for the newbies.

Support the BUIDLers, help people thrive

Sustainability is another way of saying subsistence, folks who work on open source should be able to thrive and be fairly compensated for their labour, it's important for humanity to figure out open source funding, we want people to thrive.

Too many talented people in the space are having to work on their projects as a side hustle. Those buy me a coffee buttons are a quick, easy window into supporting people who have given their time to build something that they are passionate about. Try clicking them once in a while, or, if you’re a Brave user, why not send them some of your passive attention income?

Whether it’s in the form of poll answers, a response to a Tweet, or getting stuck into a Telegram conversation, we are all individual parts of the big crypto puzzle; your token engineering buddies might not necessarily get DAOs, and your governance friends might not know the intricacies and possible applications of NFTs. We’ve mostly ended up here because of our fascination with a facet or application of this emerging, developing technology. Let that passion out! When people come to us with sentences starting have you thought about… we always know that the conversation is going to be meaningful.

Look at your onboarding

“Onboarding beyond the crypto space seems to be not ready. Many dapps exist only in echo chambers.”

There is a dangerous default mode within humans which blinds us to the fact that the things we find easy, or that we have learned to do, are not necessarily the same for everyone. More people need to be brought into this ecosystem; designing sensible processes and ways of holding their hands through onboarding can only be a good thing. Next time you test the steps that people have to take in order to get into your dapp, try finding some crypto newbies and amateurs; if they can do it, you’re probably onto a winner.

Have open conversations about governance

The problem of how to divide power is something that we haven’t really had to think about for a long time. This is not because people haven’t wanted things to be different, but rather because the tools didn’t exist. They do now. Whether you feel closer to Plato, Hobbes, or Proudhon, your voice is needed in this discussion. Talks about the where and why of decision making now will steer where we are going, don’t miss out on your chance to shape the future.

Be the person you needed when you first got into crypto

Remember that individual who first engaged you in conversation about blockchain, decentralized systems, governance, DAOs, token engineering, or whichever topic brought you here? That experience likely set the course that you’ve taken up until this point. Whether that first person was positive and friendly or preachy and patronising, keep in mind that for a lot of people you will probably be that first point of contact. The representative for the new world. In the same way that chaos theory explores the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings could cause a tornado elsewhere, a short interaction online could be the difference between a valuable community member and a person who stays on the outside. Welcome the inquisitive with open arms.

Hopefully this has sparked something. We wish you an exciting 2020, filled with all the kinds of change that you're looking for.