This idea came out of a conversation I had with some EF DevCon stakeholders. There seems to be some sentiment in the community that the Ethereum Foundation exists to serve and support the community, but at the same time, that there are extremely limited channels today to provide feedback/input to the Foundation on matters that are important to the community. This would be focused primarily on Foundation management, use of funds, grants program, etc., rather than core research and development (which is probably a separate topic).
The idea was floated that a “safe space” could be created at DevCon to have an open, candid dialog between the community and Foundation management about the role of EF–about how that role has evolved and continues to evolve, and about what that role should look like in the future. However, it’s unclear whether there is space on the DevCon agenda for such an event.
Would there be any interest in holding such an event at the Council of Berlin, and perhaps in turning this into a Ring going forward?
I think more broadly the role of EF in FEM (and FEM in EF/Ethereum Governance) is a very important topic for us to discuss if there is time during the council.
More broadly, I think space should be made at DevCon for this kind of “safe space” to learn more about EF and take feedback. It is a very important topic, and would fit in quite well with the governance track. Perhaps some time should be alotted for it on the first day?
I think this is a brilliant idea, both for FEM as well as the broader community. I would lean towards making this available at DevCon directly so that it is not seen as an exclusionary event if hosted by FEM.
Also, does anyone have an concrete guidance on what the agenda will look like at DevCon? This would be a real help to understand what gaps could be filled by organizing events such as this one.
I wonder if we might still have this discussion at DevCon.
I am thinking about putting up a “devcon-retrospective” repo with feedback.
There were a number of issues that I would love to see improved AND there are a number of issues that were great (transit card! woot! so awesome!), and I think one of the roles of FEM is to hold the ecosystem players accountable to principles of transparency and feedback – much like open source collaboration.
@lrettig you’re probably slammed but just noting this.
sounds awesome and very helpful to me. I spent a lot of time discussing personal retrospective feedback from DCIII with Mamie & co. and I think pretty much all of it got addressed at DCIV! Onward and upward!