Is Cardano Community Being Taken Advantage Of?

It's been roughly a month since the original article on how Daedalus aka cardano-wallet and its ranking logic has been misleading delegators to make unsound decisions. Has something changed since? Well - yes and no. Have you seen this tweet yet? I mean - who can make sense of it anyways. Moving on.

A new community led initiative on ranking (once again) takes place on Github. You can follow it via this link. A month ago, another thread discussion has taken place on Reddit: link here. Can you imagine that we are at this topic of Daedalus issues for more than two months now already?

So hop in and give it a glance to catch up. It will shed a lot of light on what's been up recently. All the nitty gritty. Personally, I can hardly speak with authority to the validity of phd level mathematical equations. I realise my own limitations and gladly let the floor to those competent to hammer out details.

Regardless, most of the reactions from wallet builders have been somewhat non-existent or lukewarm. Almost as if it all existed in some strange vacuum. Definitely not what one would expect from a product delivery team anywhere else. So instead of focusing on what we already know - that Daedalus theory isn't working out in the real world as flexibly as needed - I'd rather focus on what we don't know.

If I didn't know any better - I'd assume we - as a Cardano community - are being taken advantage of - over a lack of cohesive technical capability and understanding to demand well targeted questions by the community. Let's be honest, how many of us can meaningfully challenge the math behind the code logic? It's hard. Not impossible, as some have already championed per examples above. But we need some real heavy weights to push back. Perhaps, already being formed - but are they 'battle ready'? We don't seem to be taken too seriously so far.

What worries me more is the sentiment towards the criticisms. I am unsure when this has become a norm - but it's extremely cumbersome to raise a critical view point on about any topic available out there. Have we become too self-contained with superiority of 'our' blockchain solution that nothing we do is/can go wrong?

It is unfortunate to see that once community makes some sort of an attempt to challenge protocol parameters, it is often discarded as being impatient and issue is swept under the rug of sorts. Now, granted - many definitely fit the narrative of trolls and fudsters. How often we see deep discussions in 140 characters or less - and then never meaningfully engage in any argumentative debate thereafter. Let's forget those trolls for a moment.

This trend over dismissing community's concerns as overly sensitive is worrying me greatly. And I can't help myself and ask why?

• Why can't we have a straight talk about what is going on?

• Why are we being dismissed from straight forward answers?

• Is community really out of depth with a vis cardano-node development?

Perhaps, we aren't seen as "equals." Maybe we deserve that, maybe not. Cardano community has been routinely compared to a child needing parental oversight. There is certainly some merit to it - but we are at least in an adolescent stage now. You can't chat with a 17 year old the very same way as you talk with a 5 year old kid. Talking about Santa's ho-ho-ho narratives doesn't seem to fit the bill anymore.

Hence, I don't wish anyone in our community to confuse proper accountability with being impatient. This is NOT a child-parent relationship anymore as some feel the need to underline. This is a partnership by all means. Partnership that we are all chipping in collectively with our resources. Whether it is money, time, and anything else in between.

Why can't we have a good dialogue about things and proceed evolving all at the same time? Isn't that what a good partnership is supposed to look like? I prefer "my" house in order, who honestly doesn't? I am not impatient, neither are you! We are observant and seeking accountability. Is it that difficult to understand?

It is saddening to see the lack of respect towards the stakeholders on what really are - basic things. It is not obvious at first. AMAs and all the buzz is hard to cut through at times. But when you think about things that truly matter - all of a sudden - everything becomes hazy. The picture is not clear anymore. Often, no one really seems to know what, when, how, or why.

Proof of burden should be on the builder's side. If there are issues, let's hash them out together, but out in the open. What's the point of the open-source when we are not allowed to meaningfully question the process? Or to put it better - we are allowed to question - just not getting straight answers from those responsible without obfuscation. Cue the shoulder shrugs.

We need to demand answers to questions. We need to ask hard questions. Even those that make us uncomfortable and not be discouraged by nay-sayers. However, make sure you bring good arguments to the table and leave fudding elsewhere. That's only way how we get collectively better. Otherwise, we face losing focus with all the distractions. We CANNOT afford to become complacent. There should always be some sort of sense of urgency and responsibility. I sense very little of it nowadays.

Concluding, this would be an apt opportunity for Cardano Foundation to ramp up efforts to provide that critical counter balance to what's being delivered to the community. We need a high level technical role and we needed it yesterday. Maybe, even a technical committee of sorts. Such that can independently and critically examine/verify the works of the builders on a frequent basis.

Let's be constructive together. Is it inappropriate to have high standards? Yes, we should focus on the big picture. It is "only stupid" ranking today; but what issue will be passed over tomorrow?