What is SourceCred and how do I opt in?

[befitsandpiper]

With the extension of the Maker SourceCred trial, the team running the Maker SourceCred instance has received feedback that it is difficult to find information on opting in to receive payments and about the trial in general. This post is meant to be a useful resource for information on SourceCred and how it pertains to Maker.

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What is SourceCred / Why should I be interested?

SourceCred is a way of paying contributors based on the value they add to a community. In the context of MakerDAO, using SourceCred has been proposed as a way to compensate contributors and workers post Foundation. As a forum member, you can be earning DAI for your valuable contributions to the community today! This is achieved via a clever algorithm to determine what work is valued by a community and through the power of having internet native currencies, such as DAI.
@LongForWisdom talks about the initial motivations behind the trial here.
And @s_ben wrote a post on the initial trial kickoff here.

If you are interested in going deep into the rabbit-hole on SourceCred their docs can be found here.

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How to opt in!

At the end of the month, contributors that have opted in to receive payments and have at least $10 of DAI in accrued payouts can redeem their balance for DAI on-chain. Scores and dai values are updated weekly. On-chain payouts are made typically on the first week of each month.

To opt in, please fill out: this form

This indicates your desire to participate in the trial. You will need to provide an Ethereum address to send payments to. Note that transactions are public and that the payment will be reflected in the UI (e.g. the balance); i.e. the ETH address you provide may be tied to your forum identity. Once you have submitted your info, @sourcecred-trial-adm will send you a direct message to validate your submission.

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Payouts

You can view your cred at the SourceCred instance here. This is not trivial to convert into dai, but will give you a rough idea of how your contributions compare to that of other members of the community. Most recently the Foundation increased weekly payouts to $2,500 / week distributed according to the SourceCred algorithm to all opted in contributors.

Moving forward, this instance will be the source of truth for Cred scores and DAI balances. Cred scores are now automatically updated every 24 hrs, and DAI balances are updated every week.

[MakerMan]

Nice post @befitsandpiper

Lets add that there is an announcement below from @LongForWisdom the sourceCRED trial period will be extended by 3 months and then governance will directly fund this (can’t wait to see that MIP btw).

Announcement

SourceCred Pilot Extension

With the initial trial nearing completion, the success metrics are looking good (final report coming soon). However, to determine if SourceCred is suitable for paying contributors from the protocol, more data is needed. As a result, the Maker-SourceCred working group has decided to extend the trial for another three months using funding provided by the Maker Foundation. At the end of this three month extension, barring overt gaming or strong opposition from the community, the working group plan…

And week 13 DAI distributions so people who want to opt in can see what others are getting.

Week 13 DAI Distributions - SourceCred trial

The 13th week of SourceCred trial payouts are here! On-chain payments for DAI earned in August will go out in the next few days. In case you missed the news, the trial has been extended for another three months, after which the Maker-SourceCred working group plans to propose ongoing payments directly from the protocol! See the announcement post for details. Also, a reminder that payouts are now only going to those that have opted in to the trial. See the week…

[Vincent-M-E-Verheyen]

@sourcecred-trial-adm Does this count as message to @sourcecred-trial-adm?

Also: can we opt in with a Metamask address, which is on the xDAI network (custom RPC), to receive DAI?

Kind regards, Vincent

[iammeeoh]

@Vincent-M-E-Verheyen

Also: can we opt in with a Metamask address, which is on the xDAI network (custom RPC), to receive DAI?

+1 to this idea!

As far as I know, SourceCred is indeed also active on the xDAI network (they work with 1Hive, i.e., the Honey DAO). So this should be possible.

[sourcecred-trial-adm]

@Vincent-M-E-Verheyen

@sourcecred-trial-adm Does this count as message to @sourcecred-trial-adm?

Also: can we opt in with a Metamask address, which is on the xDAI network (custom RPC), to receive DAI?

Hi @Vincent-M-E-Verheyen, as the post says, you will need to fill out the Google form linked to in the post, which will include a field to add your ETH address. We will then send you a DM on the forum to confirm the ETH address. While this process is a bit clunky, we did it this way so we could inform people of the implications of receiving cryptocurrency income, and receive their consent to that. Once enrolled (and you have >$10 worth of DAI accrued in your balance), we’ll send DAI to you on-chain. You can then use any wallet that supports DAI.

@iammeeoh

+1 to this idea!

As far as I know, SourceCred is indeed also active on the xDAI network (they work with 1Hive, i.e., the Honey DAO). So this should be possible.

@iammeeoh, SourceCred is indeed being used to distribute rewards on the xDAI network for 1Hive, in the form of their community currency HNY (an ERC-20 token). SourceCred is not doing the distributions though. 1Hive is doing the distribution themselves using an Aragon DAO running on xDAI.
From SourceCred’s perspective, there is little difference what network is being used to distribute tokens. If the Maker community wanted to use xDAI instead, we could explore that. The xDAI network is relatively new however, and there are still some UX pain points being worked out. That could make the onboarding even harder than it already is .

[s_ben]

@befitsandpiper, can you update the Payouts section to mention that, while payouts happen weekly on the instance, on-chain payouts go out at the end of the month (typically in the first few days of the next month)? We’ve gotten a few DMs asking about this. Also, starting in Dec, the payouts will increase to $5k worth of DAI a week.

[befitsandpiper]

hey seth, I did update this here:

@befitsandpiper

At the end of the month, contributors that have opted in to receive payments and have at least $10 of DAI in accrued payouts can redeem their balance for DAI on-chain. Scores and dai values are updated weekly. On-chain payouts are made typically on the first week of each month.

Is there something more you had in mind?

[s_ben]

Ah, my bad. I just went straight to the Payouts section looking for that info. Maybe just move this to the Payouts section?

[Andrey_Incognito]

Hey @befitsandpiper, thats an awesome initiative! Somehow missed it out until became one of the top 10 contributors of the week

Cred	Contribution	Author
200.5	Making DAI a default stable coin on the Incognito DEX	@Andrey_Incognito

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@befitsandpiper

Note that transactions are public and that the payment will be reflected in the UI (e.g. the balance); i.e. the ETH address you provide may be tied to your forum identity.

Have you considered distributing it by utilizing existed privacy solutions?

[Cryptouf]

@Andrey_Incognito

Have you considered distributing it by utilizing existed privacy solutions?

Why do you want to do it privately ? The backbone of a nice DAO is transparency. Maybe you can hide this address , but who gained what should always be accessible.

[prose11]

I agree fully here with @Cryptouf. It’s worth noting that it’s super simple to create new wallets, and while someone could always “follow the money” on the blockchain, it gets pretty difficult even if it’s just being layered a few times over. The transparency while definitely being essential for the MakerDAO community to function, also adds several benefits to the SourceCred program. We want users to be able to see who is being rewarded the most for their engagement and what they are bringing to the table. Moreover, the weekly rundowns (most recent one here) gives the community a chance to see how well the program is working. Without reveling the usernames of the people getting paid, it’s pretty hard to track how the program is doing with new members and you wouldn’t even be able to point to posts that SourceCred rewards without outing the users that participated in them. Privacy should always be of the upmost concern, but I think it’s reasonable to expect members who value their pseudo identity to take a few steps to obscure their primary wallets (and ID) rather than make it so the entire project cannot be subject to checks and balances.

[Andrey_Incognito]

Yep, got the point. That makes sense. Probably those who want more privacy can do it by themself

[Jiecut]

@prose11 Yeah you can always create a new address!

I’ve been using part of my Sourcecred earnings to donate to Gitcoin.

[s_ben]

Tend to agree here. If better privacy is really something the community wants, we can definitely explore that. However, I don’t think hiding amounts people are getting would be a good idea. Without that basic level of transparency, the community would have a difficult time determining if the compensation was fair. Contributors can also participate pseudonymously if they wish, use a separate address from their main ETH address, utilize Tornado Cash or other privacy services, etc.

We also put the below disclaimer in the opt-in form letting people know the transactions are public, and that the ETH address they provide may be tied to their forum identity. IMO this gives people what they need to provide informed consent.