Hello ICP community. Long time forum lurker.
Though I appreciate the communities’ intentions of garnering additional stakers to join the NNS, I’m afraid such a proposal is merely a band-aid solution for a more fundamentally driven one. Let me explain.
Let us fancy this matter from an outsider view. Pretend you are a newcomer to the ICP space. You are intrigued by the disruptive technology being built on the ICP platform. You are a bit frightened by the price history of the token, but for some reason, an insatiable urge to learn the technology drives you to consume the red pill. You have a general understanding of other blockchains; however, you are convinced $ICP is quite literally the future. You quickly hit the market buy option on your favorite exchange and are now faced with the dilemma – How can I earn rewards and participate in the DAO?
Let’s dive in. First one must create an “internet identity anchor” before having to log-in to the “Network Nervous System.” After said completion, you are left clicking the tabulated links on the top and eventually stumble on the word “cannister.” Eventually, after clicking around and searching various web2 sites (Tisk tisk…), you deduce this is the appropriate option to stake your ICP. Upon staking you need to determine your dissolve delay, and are further bombarded with things like “Increase Neuron Stake”, “Split Neuron”, etc. Do you see the problem?
If we as a community intend to drive user adoption of the NNS for staking, we need to put ourselves into the shoes of our common crypto-peers. Needlessly verbose terminology is such a huge turn off for newcomers. What appears to be the intent of creating a cult-like mantra around the use of novel words and nifty idioms is exactly what turns people off from wanting to participate. Perhaps as important - participants must think to drive their decision-making process. Think of every other user-friendly stake platform. You login, find the stake button, and then bam – rewards expressed as a percentage depending on your stake term.
We need an NNS that is so user intuitive, it’s a simple as logging into your favorite social media platform. Simply login, “Stake”, and set your term. When you are ready, you can “Unstake” or “rake your steak rewards.” (Folly, but an option. 8 Year gang baby!)
If you think this is ICP fud and crypto babble, I truly apologize. I’m totally engrossed with the technology Dfinity has built with ICP, and truly believe this has a chance to transform the internet as we know. However, we as a community must stop trying to create robust mathematical proofs to drive user adoption. Perhaps a greater emphasis on ease-of-use would solve that very problem instead.