L2 Moderation Bounty: Guidance for Community Moderators
Hello Moderator, and thank you for helping us uphold the quality of proposals for Fund14! Your role is crucial in helping the Catalyst Team review over 1,600 proposals by recovering the signal from the noise.
This guide will provide you with the expectations, checklists, and context needed to confidently flag proposals that require a closer look.
Note: This is a pilot initiative, please be patient with any challenges/issues that arise from participation/engagement with it.
A Note on Participation: For L2 Moderators & The Community
🧑⚖️ For Our L2 Moderators
Please note: This paid L2 Moderation Bounty is an exclusive pilot initiative for our cohort of experienced L2 Moderators. We are entrusting this critical task to you in recognition of your proven experience and deep understanding of the Catalyst process. Your work is essential, and this bounty is a token of our appreciation for your expertise. This is in addition to your general duties as L2 Moderator during the Fund14 Community Review stage.
🌱 For the Wider Cardano Community
If you are not an L2 Moderator but are passionate about proposal quality, we warmly welcome your contributions! The Cardano community's collective intelligence is our greatest asset.
While you are not eligible for the ADA rewards in this specific bounty, you can still help by identifying and discussing proposals that may not meet community standards. We encourage you to share your insights on a volunteer basis in the relevant community discussion channels (like Discord or Telegram or X) or submit a direct support ticket here. Your voice matters and helps inform voters and proposers alike.
Guiding Principles & Universal Flags 🔎
Before diving into specific categories, here are some universal red flags that apply to all proposals. If you see any of these, it's a strong signal to flag the proposal.
Incomplete or Placeholder Content: The proposal contains sections with "TBD," "TBC," "lorem ipsum," or extremely brief, one-line answers that don't provide enough detail. This shows a lack of effort.
High Reputational Risk: The proposal makes unrealistic promises, guarantees financial returns, or seems designed in a way that is intended to extract value from the Cardano ecosystem without relevant impact. Trust your gut - if it feels off, flag it.
No Clear Link to Cardano: The proposal fails to explain how it will use, benefit, or generate transactions on the Cardano blockchain. It feels generic and could be submitted to any grant program.
Category-Specific Checklists ✅
This is the core of your task: ensuring a proposal is a good fit for its chosen category. A proposal might be a great idea, but if it's in the wrong category, it cannot be funded there.
Cardano Use Cases: Products & Partners
This category covers two main proposal types: scaling existing Cardano-native Products, and onboarding established Partners to the ecosystem. The flagging criteria for each are distinct:
For Product Proposals (scaling existing apps): This path is for scaling existing products that are already deployed and active on the Cardano mainnet. It is not for new ideas.
FLAG IF... 🚩
The product is not yet deployed on the Cardano mainnet.
The proposal is for a brand new idea, concept, or MVP (this belongs in Concepts).
The proposal is an incremental feature update for an existing, mature product without a clear scaling objective.
For Partner Proposals (onboarding established brands/dApps): This path is for bringing established, Tier-1 brands and successful dApps from other ecosystems onto Cardano. It requires a high degree of credibility and a proven track record.
FLAG IF... 🚩
The proposal is from an individual or a new startup, not an established business or well-known brand.
The proposal is to port a dApp that has no proven track record or user base on another mainnet.
The proposal lacks a credible technical partner with experience deploying on Cardano (or another major blockchain).
There is no clear and convincing plan to reach mainnet deployment by the end of the project.
Cardano Use Cases: Concepts
This category is a wide net for new, disruptive, and early-stage ideas. However, it has clear boundaries to avoid overlap with other categories.
FLAG IF... 🚩
It's a proposal to scale or add features to an already deployed product (this belongs in Products & Partners).
It's focused only on creating informational content, a basic website, or a blog (this belongs in Ecosystem).
It's an infrastructure or developer tooling project without a specific use case (this belongs in Developers).
It has no clear plan to generate on-chain transactions or interact with the Cardano blockchain.
Cardano Open: Developers
This category is strictly for funding the creation of open-source software, tools, and infrastructure that benefit the broader developer community.
FLAG IF... 🚩
The budget is predominantly for non-development work like marketing, events, or content writing.
The primary output of the project is not open-source software.
Cardano Open: Ecosystem
This category is for projects that strengthen the Cardano community through education, marketing, and community-building initiatives.
FLAG IF... 🚩
The project's primary goal and budget are for software development (this belongs in Developers, Concepts, or Products). A small technical component is fine, but it must be secondary to the community goal.
It has unrealistic or vague measurable outcomes (e.g., "Onboard 1 million users" with a $5,000 budget and no clear strategy).
How Rewards Are Calculated 💰
We want to reward your time and sharp eye fairly. The reward system is based on the quality and uniqueness of your flags from a total bounty pool of 15,000 ADA. Here’s how it works:
Pay-Per-Flag: You will earn 15 ADA for each confirmed flag you submit.
What is a "Confirmed Flag"? A flag is considered "confirmed" when the Catalyst Team reviews your submission and agrees that the proposal violates the guidelines for its category, as outlined above.
A clear and concise justification is required for a flag to be confirmed. Flags with weak or missing justifications may not be approved, even if the issue is valid.
First Reporter Rule: To ensure fairness, only the first moderator to submit a confirmed flag for a specific proposal will be rewarded. If multiple moderators flag the same proposal for the same valid reason, the reward goes to whoever submitted the Google Form first.
Individual Cap: To encourage wide participation, each moderator can earn a maximum of 300 ADA. This is equivalent to 20 unique, confirmed flags (20 flags x 15 ADA/flag).
Deadline: The bounty program will run until Sep 5, 6AM UTC or until the reward pool is fully allocated, whichever comes first.
Example Scenario:
Let's say you spend an evening reviewing proposals:
You submit flags for 12 different proposals.
The Catalyst Team reviews them:
8 flags are confirmed as valid, and you were the first to report them.
2 flags are confirmed as valid, but another moderator reported them just before you did.
2 flags are not confirmed, as the team determined the proposals were acceptable after a closer look.
Your Reward Calculation: 8 (unique confirmed flags) x 15 ADA = 120 ADA.
A Note on Finality and This Pilot Program
We recognize that some flagging criteria, particularly around terms like "unrealistic" or "weak/proven track record," can be subjective. While we are committed to applying the guidelines as consistently as possible, there will inevitably be borderline cases that require a judgment call.
To ensure this pilot program runs efficiently, please be aware of the following:
The Catalyst Team's decision on whether a flag is 'confirmed' or 'not confirmed' is final.
There will not be a formal appeals process for rejected flags during this pilot bounty.
This approach is necessary to allow our team to process a high volume of flags quickly and focus on the primary goal: improving the overall quality of proposals on the ballot. We ask for your understanding and trust in our team's judgment as we test and refine this important new community initiative.
A Note on Empathy and Your Role
Your job is to flag, not to judge. You are an extra set of eyes helping our team focus our attention. When you flag a proposal, you are simply stating that it may not meet the category criteria and requires an expert review. Any attempts to abuse this system in a malicious way are not going to be tolerated in any shape and form.
Please provide a clear, concise justification for each flag based on the guidance above. This helps us quickly assess the situation. There's no need to write an essay, just a simple "Flagging because this is a concept proposal in the Products category." is perfect.
Thank you again for your commitment. Your work helps ensure that voter attention is focused on the highest-quality proposals, strengthening the entire Cardano ecosystem. ✨
Happy flagging!
The Catalyst Team
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