@wolfehr Here’s a more fleshed out framework for gathering consensus. The idea is to go from softer consensus with few people involved to harder consensus with more voters, but do so gradually and without wasting anyone’s time.
Stakeholder Phase
The Stakeholder Phase is where ideas begin. Here, members of the DAO start with an idea, find those receptive to the it, and generally check the pulse of the DAO.
For example, John wants to start a podcast on complex defi-degen trading strategies. He talks up his idea in relevant discord channels (#podcast-recording, #av-general, #marketing guild, # general). John finds three other traders that want to see this podcast happen.
Drafting Phase
The next stage is drafting where ideas get translated into actional proposals.
Here, John works with his new friends and creates a google doc using this template. Satisfied with their proposal, they bring the proposal to AboveAverageJoe
Joe creates a new channel calling #trading-podcast and pins the google doc. In a read-only #proposal-announcement channel, a bot will notify users about the new proposal on the table. It’s important to note that in this draft stage, proposals DO NOT go to the forum.
Feedback Phase
John and his collaborates now have a place to gather feedback from DAO members. Interested parties begin to populate the channel and provide their feedback. John and Co take this feedback and iterate on the working doc until they have a refined product.
The purpose of the Feedback Phase isn’t to force changes to the proposal as per the will of the DAO. It’s a litmus test for the rest of the DAO. Authors do not have to make changes if they do not agree.
At this phase, consensus is gathered emoji reactions. Voting can happen in two forms: Informal and Formal. Informal discord voting happens within the #trading-podcast channel with 
and 
. Formal voting happens within the read-only #polls channel and is posted by a bot to minimize clutter. The #polls channel signals to the DAO that more consensus-gathering is being requested. A general rule of thumb for introducing a poll in the #polls channel is: (1) If the decision impacts others or (2) There is disagreement on a particular topic and requires escalation to harder consensus.
Forum Phase
Once the proposal has been workshopped, it moves to the forum. The forum will include people that have participated in the discord conversation, but hopefully many others that do not have time to participate. Ideally, the forum is where passive DAO members are most active.
For proposal that don’t require funding or have major changes to governance procedures, the decision will be made at the forum with the poll feature (>50% of voting party - Perhaps a minimum number of votes required?)
Snapshot Phase
Hard consensus layer - Proposals that make it passed the forum and requires funding.