Move the Proposal process to GitHub

[jasonsprouse]

Summary

This proposal is to move the Proposal process to GitHub. GitHub is better structured to handle Proposals made to the alter the form and function of the hub, and proposals that effect code change can be directly cited in the code improvements made via the proposal process - no matter which repository.

Implementation

Cosmos Hub already has the discussions repo available and there are several categories that would enhance the engagement around proposals. “The Start Participating in the Forum” post makes these suggestions:

Some collected wisdom on soft governance strategies for making and passing proposals. To make proposal-writing easier, topics in each Hub Proposal subcategory come with a template for formatting your content.

1. Socialize the idea (e.g. On the Hub Discord, Twitter, arranging calls with stakeholders) before going on-chain. Because proposals can’t be changed once they move on-chain it’s important to solicit as much feedback and editorial comments from stakeholders as possible before setting it in stone.
2. Include a link to the forum post (so that people can come read the discussion and contribute even once the proposal is on-chain)
3. Take a pdf snapshot of the forum post and discussion just before going on-chain and pin it to IPFS so that the info is preserved. Include the IPFS link in your proposal text so that people viewing it on-chain can easily access historical content.
4. Let your top-level post in the forum be exactly the text you expect to put on-chain (except for the changelog and IPFS link). This will help people know exactly what sort of edits and feedback might be needed to make the proposal text clear and palatable.
5. Mind the character limit! The limit for proposals is 10000 characters and this includes markdown formatting and links.

Using github discussions would allow participants to post ideas and get the “wisdom of the crowd” contributions to that idea before a formal proposal is created. Those contributions can also be cited in a formal proposal. It would also allow polls to be run on different ideas before going to proposal, if we so choose. The greatest benefit is that there would be a consolidation of participation pertaining to the contributions to the hub all preserved in github history. A DAO overseeing the maintenance and execution of proposals might further summarize the feedback.

Furthermore, this could also have the effect of acclimating and onboarding more people to utilizing professional software engineering tooling. Up until around 1850 the global literacy rate was about 10-15%. According to ComputerWorld there are 18.5 million programmers. World Population is 7.4 billion. If you do that math, it’s roughly around 0.25% of world population.

Lastly, in the case some flavor of automated governance is implemented - the apis on github would be extremely useful in that effort being successful. See discussion.