I’ve had a lot of conversations today with many stakeholders on this topic, as well as with @cryptovestor (in context of our recent Council meeting vs ‘the now’) and i appreciate being able to witness a lot of people making their voices heard in here and elsewhere. It’s no surprise to myself that Indexers, after a long period of patience and understanding, are being vocal about their grievances with all of this. It is the exact sentiment i expected.
I just wanted to lend my support to the above and say that the extra context provided by time, thought, discussion and the newly-revealed Subgraph Migration timeline has made it even clearer to me just how critical a solution is to this matter. In my opinion, one that adds further runway in addition to a thawing period is simply no longer a feasible consideration as our immediate next step. Not unless we’re OK with seeing many Indexers leave the set, once faced with the additional unpaid work/infra/costs that shall come along with this next step for the network.
The tax considerations/timelines presented above by some may not apply to every Indexer, due to jurisdiction, but i’ve seen this topic deliberated over for many weeks/months at this point. And i’ve noticed that many of those who have been vocal on this particular matter, were some of those who were motivated enough to join the new (unpaid) testnet, lending their time and energy, and even testing the GIP 0002 implementation as part of that. People willing to do unpaid testnet work are the types we should aim to retain, and their efforts stretch far prior to mainnet or the ‘new’ testnet…
Of course, the current ‘tax’ deadlines facing some may not be reason enough to move forward with the GIP. But it’s something that affects all Indexers to a various degree. And this is still only one part of the many other factors that contribute to the urgency of this situation, such as:
- It never being intended that Indexers were unable to extract their rewards.
- The fact that Indexers have given their time/energy/costs far prior to the initiation of mainnet (~8 months so far…)
- The snapshot ‘signal’ that drew a 99.72% positive vote, which is not only a matter of consensus, but also reflects on how engaged Indexers are as a group.
- Further to that - Ignoring such a clear result (when a vote was expected to follow) and the opinions of some of our most engaged stakeholders may set a bad precedence and lack of faith in our governance processes in the future.
- The risk of centralizing the network through inaction on this matter, as Indexers drop out.
… and many other points - all come together in convincing me that we should move forward with this GIP as soon as possible, and then address any perceived imbalances or improvements (preferably, very) shortly after.
There’s a lot of people here with nothing to show for the past 8 months other than gains on paper, or a dashboard. Not even something to cover their time and expenses thus far.
If we want those people to stick around, we need to start allowing them to see something tangible for their efforts. Not working for ‘free’ while also indebting themselves further, just to stay involved in their role. And aside from that, for the network to thrive, it needs them to be able to perform their role well, with whatever infrastructure required being covered as part of that equation. The network can not be propped up by goodwill or expected to scale through what is essentially still ‘donated’ infrastructure.
And we can’t expect the network to not centralize, while also observing that the realistic, continued lack of realized compensation, is now on a course that could see us hitting the 1 year mark.
Side note: I would appreciate further clarity (from an E&N developer) on how exactly the unthawing mechanism in GIP 0004 works. I’ve spoken with a number of people on this and seen/heard some concerns over this implementation. It’s not possible for any Council member to deliberate over this, whether it’s implemented now or later, without further information.