Title: TEMP CHECK - Sybil Resistant Forum
Authors: @Jengajojo @Icedcool
Squad: Governance Department
Date Created: 25.05.2023
Date Posted: 25.05.2023
TLDR:
- BanklessDAO needs a Sybil resistant forum to support more efficient governance!
- Options
- Migrate forum to another platform
- Keep Discourse
- Native discourse voting (likely additional charge)
- Non-native discourse voting (no additional charge)
Summary:
This tempcheck explores the spectrum of options available at our disposal as a DAO when it comes to making our governance resistant to sybil attacks. Based on our analysis we suggest a way forward focused on stages and we’d like to hear from the community about this approach.
Background:
We are in the build market and DAOs are getting exploited left-right-and-centre! In the last 6 months banklessDAO suffered from two sybil attacks:
In the latest attempt, the Sybil tried to game our governance. Since a lot of our operations are manual today, we were able to identify and mitigate this threat, however, there is a need to update our tools and processes to be able to resist similar attempts in the future.
What is a Sybil attack?
A Sybil attack is a type of attack on a computer network service in which an attacker subverts the service’s reputation system by creating a large number of pseudonymous identities and uses them to gain a disproportionately large influence.
Specification:
The Governance department has been brainstorming various ways to mitigate this issue, however we have to be mindful of the fact that sybil resistance is a never-ending cat and mouse game. As the tools for resisting sybils evolve, so do the Sybil themselves evolve to coordinate better attacks, hence
- Sybil resistance is a journey and not a destination.
- Sybil resistance is a spectrum and not an absolute measure.
Broadly we have identified 3 possible ways to proceed:
- Migrate forum to another platform
- Keep Discourse
1.Native discourse voting (likely additional charge)
2.Non-native discourse voting (no additional charge)
Below is an overview of the list of tools and avenues at our disposal along with possible pros and cons with each approach
- Migrate forum to another platform
The forum is currently hosted on discourse.org which, while being a web2 forum tech leader, is not a web3 native governance solution and hence lacks native integration with many web3 features such as token-gating, token weighted voting etc.
There are several alternatives to discourse such as Charmverse, Commonwealth, Disco.xyz, Spect, Guild.xyz, wonderverse etc. From all these solutions, Commonwealth has a well built platform that has been adopted by several DAOs, while many of the other solutions seem to still be under construction or like charmverse have costs associated with their usage.
Zooming in on most platforms, they offer several features that we are interested in and do not have any costs associated with them today, however this may change over time. Additionally, many users experience these platforms as buggy. This is an important point to consider when dealing with new software. It often comes with bugs and takes some time for a stable version to perform consistently across use cases.
For our use case, we think that the cons of having a new platform which is yet to be tested with bull market level energy outweighs the pros of its features. We want a robust, battle tested and stable solution.
- Keep Discourse
Discourse’s emphasis on user experience, mobile-friendliness, gamification, moderation tools, search functionality, customizability, and active development makes it a popular choice for hosting forums. Its innovative approach to online discussions has contributed to its reputation as a great platform for community-based interactions.
- Non native discourse voting (no additional charge)
One option is to keep using discourse for proposing and commenting, but move voting to a third party solution such as governator.xyz or snapshot.org . While both these options offer the solutions we are looking for, governator suffers from the same issues as commonwealth, new software awaiting battletests, snapshot does not suffer from the same flaws.
There is a risk of drop off from forum proposals to snapshot voting while hopping between platforms.
- Native discourse voting (likely additional charge) with plugins
Any plugin, self-built or a third party integration will result in more costs for DAO. We can either self host the forum which will significantly increase our costs in terms of resources and money, or upgrading the discourse tier will result in banklessHQ paying more to host our forum on discourse.
Assuming BanklessHQ continues to cover our discourse upgrade(or the DAO pays), we are left with the option of:
- Self-built plugin solution
- Third party solution such as Gitcoin passport
Gitcoin passport is an identity verification application developed by GitcoinDAO on the Ceramic Network. It enables users to collect verifiable credentials (called "stamps’, from web2 and web3 authenticators all in one place) that prove their identity and trustworthiness without exposing personally identifying information.
Passport does not currently support discourse integration, however this update will be available by the end of next month(June), which gives us sufficient time to integrate this solution in our approach. Passport is widely accepted by the greater crypto community as the leading sybil resistance solution, we believe that this is the best approach and long term solution against sybil attacks
In conclusion, we suggest a staged approach, first with gating discourse with Gitcoin passport and using the default scorer settings to kick off forum sybil resistance.
As we continue to work on this, we will move towards token gating with the BANK tokens or tlBANK.
Next Steps:
- Collect feedback from the community
- Post bDIP based on feedback
- Integrate passport
What do you think about this approach?
- Yeah! Let’s do this
- I vote ‘naye’, and will tell you why in the comments
- Maybe, I have some suggestions
0 voters
