[TEMP Check] Should we move BanklessDAO's forum from Discourse to a Web3 native forum platform - [metaforo.io](http://metaforo.io/)

General
1

Basic Details:

Project Name: Metaforo - Web3 Native Forum for Web 3 Governance

Team Name: Metaforo

Project Overview

Metaforo Website: https://www.metaforo.io

Discord: Discord

Twitter: https://twitter.com/realmetaforo

Youtube: Case Study - Shapeshift Migrating to Metaforo from Discourse

Deck: Metaforo.io

Overview

The forum is a critical piece of infrastructure for any DAO. It’s where community members come together to brainstorm ideas, draft proposals, give feedback on each other’s ideas, and generally coordinate to get things done. It’s critically important for DAOs that their forums are decentralized and owned by community members. Many crypto projects and DAOs have their communities on Discourse. However, because Discourse is a web2 tool with centralized data ownership and other limitations, some projects are looking for Web3 forum tooling alternatives.

Metaforo is a Web3 native forum that has many of the same features as a traditional forum system, such as creating topics, commenting, liking, and polling. But it is web3 native. All content is stored on Arweave, and all governance processes are token-gated and token-weighted.

Problems:

Discourse is a web2 tool with centralized data ownership and other limitations, including:

  • Sybil attacks: These occur when multiple fake email addresses are used to abuse the governance process.
  • Lack of on-chain proof of work: This can make it difficult to verify the authenticity of proposals and votes.
  • Lack of motivation for contributors, including low participation rates in voting.
  • No Web 3 access control to discussions and voting: This means that the platform is not as secure or decentralized.
  • No token-weighted voting: Without this, voting power is not distributed fairly among stakeholders.
  • No display of snapshot strategies: This can make it hard for users to understand how proposals are being evaluated and selected.
  • Lack of DAO ownership: This means that the community does not have full control over the platform and its decision-making processes.
  • Centralized data storage.
  • Monthly subscription fee.

Solutions:

Metaforo is Web3 native with decentralized data ownership

  • Wallet connections are used to reinforce identity validation and prevent Sybil attacks on voting.
  • The DAO Admin can issue SBT (Staked Based Token) to members as proof of work, increasing the authenticity of proposals and votes.
  • Wallet integration makes it easy to reward contributors with tokens, NFTs, and POAPs.
  • A mobile app with push notifications is available to encourage higher voting participation rates.
  • Token gated pools are supported, and voting power is calculated using snapshot strategies to ensure fair distribution of voting power.
  • Voting delegation is supported.
  • Snapshot strategies are displayed to keep the forum and governance processes in one place and make it easy to understand how proposals are being evaluated and selected.
  • Gnosis safe is supported to ensure that the DAO community has full ownership over the platform.
  • Decentralized data storage on Arweave.
  • Best of all, there is no monthly payment required to use Metaforo - it’s completely free to use!

What to Expect after Migrating to Metaforo from Discourse:

  • All members and content from your previous forum will be transferred to Metaforo.
  • Users can log in to their new Metaforo account using their Discourse account, and then connect their wallets to their email address.
  • Your forum URL will stay the same, and all existing thread URLs will be automatically updated to the new platform.
  • Metaforo offers an NFT and token-based permission system, which allows for specific token or NFT holders to join, view, vote, and more.
  • Multiple voting permission controls are available, including erc20, erc721, erc1155, and snapshot strategies.
  • Gnosis Safe login is supported so the DAO’s treasury can be appointed as the admin of the forum.
  • The best part is that all of these features are available at no cost to you and your team.

Some Crypto Projects that have made metaforo.io their new home recently

ShapeShift: https://forum.shapeshift.com/

BuilderDao: https://forum.builderdao.io/

Contact

Contact Name: Howdy

Contact Email: howdy@metaforo.io

Discord: Bue | Metaforo#5801

Telegram: Telegram: Contact @Bluefishie

Contact Howdy for an obligation free demo and feel free to create a group on https://metaforo.io/ to get a feel of its feasibility. We are open to any custom feature requests.

Vote

For: Set up a test group on Metaforo.io to see if it’s a good fit for BanklessDAO

Against: The current Discourse Community is good as it is, no need to look elsewhere.

3 Likes
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I know metaforo fairly well.

Token gating occurs as well with metaforo I understand.

How long does the transfer process take from discourse?

How does moderation with?

(I don’t think this is in template format as I think this is a temp check but I will move that aside for a moments)

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Hi～ Thanks for the quick feedback!

  1. In addition to token gating for the entire community, we also offer the option to gate only the voting process, providing flexibility in how you control voting access and participation.
  2. The transfer process from Discourse to our platform typically takes just a few hours, based on our experience. We can provide a preview for this community to review before finalizing the migration.
  3. Metaforo has the majority of Discourse’s moderation features. Moderators have the ability to ping, delete, and edit topics, as well as ban users. Additionally, each category can have specific read-and-write access settings based on titles. We can map BanklessDao’s discord users’ titles to Metaforo, so you don’t have to set up your title system multiple times across different platforms. We are also open to incorporating any additional moderation features your community may require.

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Apologies for not using the appropriate template. This post is intended as a temperature check. Thank you for clarifying.

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Hey @BueMetaforo,

Thanks for the temp check and outreach!

I’m going to modify the title and place it in the correct location for that.

Also, we have a DAO tooling meeting where we are focused on this, where we meet weekly on Thursdays at 1pm EST, if you would like to join and showcase your platform.

Reading, I’ve got a few questions:
Discourse is extremely developed with deep functionality in terms of administration, and modularity (plugins, duplicate user detection, spam flagging, API access, etc).

What kind of functionality does Metaforo have around that?
Do you have some documentation I could see?

What is metaforos revenue model?
Also would the free model change in the future?

I ask because most of the free forums have plans on going paid at some point, and this is weighing in on our choice of forum platform.

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@Icedcool

Thank you for the feedback and your questions. We’re excited to join your DAO tooling meeting and present a demo of Metaforo. Please share the meeting details, and we’ll make sure to be there!

Regarding your questions:

  1. Discourse is indeed advanced when it comes to administration and modularities. However, Metaforo takes a different approach. Instead of relying on add-on plugins and tools to tackle spam and duplicate users, we verify user accessibility through on-chain assets. By token-gating user access, we proactively prevent harm before it occurs. Many DAOs on Metaforo have confirmed that the Proposal token-gate feature on Metaforo has significantly helped them reduce Sybil attacks during proposal voting.

Moreover, in addition to the Web3 protection offered by our forum, we provide a comprehensive content and user moderation system similar to what you find in Discourse. Admins will have complete moderation access, allowing them to delete content and manage users with malicious intentions. Additionally, users can flag spam on Metaforo, ensuring a robust spam flagging feature is available.

Moderation Panel

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Flagging malicious content

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  1. When it comes to modularity, we have APIs available for DAOs to pull their proposals from Metaforo onto their websites. Some DAOs are already actively using this feature. Although we don’t currently have plugins available, we’re more than willing to develop and customize them based on solid requirements from Bankless DAO.

  2. Our business model involves adding advanced features to Metaforo, such as Mint and Collect content NFTs, a DAO treasure dashboard, and issuing community tokens and NFTs for the DAO. These features will require a monthly payment to use. However, any features currently available and in use by Bankless DAO will remain free. Additionally, any customized features we develop specifically for you will also be free, as we aim to establish Web3 forums as fundamental infrastructure for all Web3 projects. We believe that as an advanced DAO like Bankless DAO, any forum-related requirements you have would also benefit other DAOs’ forums. Our goal is to make a significant impact on the Web3 world beyond individual forum successes.

Attaching Metaforo’s user manual for your reference. Find most Metaforo features in this document.

7

i have used metaforo before,

What I like about this product:

  1. Onchain integrations, increases sybil resistence
  2. Excellent support team
  3. Fast to add requested features and fix bugs.
  4. Native crypto product (probably maybe perhaps with airdrops in the future for supporters)
  5. Native tipping (gasless)

What I don’t like about this product

  1. Something about the interface doesn’t feel as slick as discourse.
  2. You cannot edit your posts (it is saved permanently on the blockchain der)
  3. It’s a little complicated to use, especially advanced features like token gated voting.
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Thank you @angyts
We have made significant UI optimizations in the past 6 months, such as adding a pagination slider and improving the category layout, among other changes. We hope you can check it out again.

Metaforo allows editing of posts now. All the history will be saved to the blockchain.

We have completely redesigned the UI for the settings section. It’s now much more intuitive for users.

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