In any organization, there are typically several channels through which information is shared. For decentralized organizations that are community-governed, such as MakerDAO, a primary hub exists for the most important discussions concerning the organization, especially conversations around governance.

For MakerDAO, that hub is the Maker Forum. 

Forum First

The Maker Forum is a community venue used to promote civil, productive discussion that advances the DAO and the Maker ecosystem. While community members also share information on a variety of other social channels, the Forum is the place for the conversations that can lead to significant changes to the Maker Protocol. These include critical discussions around governance and risk, community development, and Maker Improvement Proposals (MIPs), which enable community members to propose updates and additions to the Protocol and DAO.

The Forum is also the place the community turns to for developments in other areas, such as Protocol integrations, engineering, and Core Units–workgroups within MakerDAO that are voted in by Maker governance and managed by one or more Facilitators. The conversations sparked and the info shared in every platform category help newcomers learn all about DAO, further educate existing members, and aid journalists in sourcing accurate information about Maker. 

Navigating and Using the Forum

The Forum is searchable by categories and tags from the home page and category pages via dropdown menus. Users can also access Latest (recent), New (within the last few days), Unread, and Top (most active) posts from the home page, and Latest, Unread, and Top posts from the main category pages.

Additionally, unlike some other social platforms used by the community, such as Maker’s Rocket.Chat and Telegram channels, Forum discussions are easily searchable. The archive of Forum threads enables anyone to peek into the past. Regular users, for example, can get up to speed on different initiatives quickly before joining in the conversation, while journalists can easily research the history of a specific MIP and quote from discussions that have led to the final decisions made by Maker governance. 

Those conversation threads might include the results of Signal Requests (strict polls that lead to on-chain votes if consensus is established) and Informal Polls, which help to set the agenda for more discussion and determine priorities for further exploration. Anyone can create a Signal Thread by following best practices.

Since the launch of the Forum in June 2019, some 2,700 users have written nearly 28,000 posts across 2,000 topics, making this a critical place for informed, measured conversation about every aspect of the DAO. 

Currently, there are 12 categories listed on the Forum. Categorizing topics allows for easier management of the many discussions on the platform. While only Forum moderators can create new categories, the topics within categories are managed by trusted users.

Forum Trust

Most categories are visible to all, and anyone can post in them; others are open only to users deemed trustworthy and designated a high trust level. Trust levels are based on several variables, including conduct and engagement, and are assigned based on a five-tier scoring system (0-4). 

The purpose of the system is to reward the most knowledgeable and helpful users by giving them more privileges. For example, new users (Level 0) cannot send personal messages to other users or include more than two links in a post. Those who rise to Trust Level 4 can be awarded various rights by a Forum Moderator to assist in specific ways. Moderators are able to manage categories and users; for example, they can ban abusive members. 

The First Source of Information for the Maker Community

The Maker Forum is a vital hub of community discussion and information. It is the best place to discover the latest Protocol and MakerDAO governance developments and take part in critical conversations around them. Anyone can create a Forum account and start posting straight away.

Visit the Maker Forum Welcome Thread to begin participating in Maker’s open governance process.