Hello Optimism collective! The Code of Conduct Council for this season 6 is happy to present its mid-season report, where we made self evaluation of our role, and proposed insights from identified conflicting patterns. You can check our charter here.
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1. What is your assessment of any benchmark milestones and/or impact KPIs that were set in your Budget Proposal or Charter at the start of the Season? Have you made progress towards, or achieved, these milestones or KPIs?
Reporter Experience KPIs:
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We have maintained a reasonable response time for most reports. Initial responses are typically provided within 48 hours. However, in some complex cases, particularly those requiring deeper investigation or coordination with other teams, response times have extended slightly, up to 5 days. Also the council considers that that the scope needs to be better communicated, as some reports have been outside of our competence and capacity.
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Number of reports that de-escalate without enforcement actions: So far, we have received 4 reports and managed to defuse most conflicts (around 90%) without the need for formal enforcement action. In cases where enforcement is required, we strictly adhere to the rules of engagement and provide transparency in all our decisions. You can review our summary of cases in this post in the forum.
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No community members have disengaged from the community because of unmanaged conflicts in season 6, reinforcing our role in the Token House as a sensory node that identifies patterns, looks out for solutions, and provides feedback to prevent similar situations from happening in the future.
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Accountability and transparency around the due processing of cases: Regular updates on case handling have been shared on the forum. All cases are documented with detailed reports on the actions taken, maintaining transparency and accountability.
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Number of updates to charters and operating procedures: there was one significant update to our charter, where we made more precise the enforcement of sanctions. Ongoing discussions highlight the need to propose some changes, planning for the coming growth phase of the superchain and the evolving governance framework of Optimism.
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Availability and ease of access to the council: We have provided availability for the community to raise concerns to the council and its members. Participation in office hours was lower than expected, but we continue to promote these sessions to increase visibility and still provide accessibility. We also want to Invite other communities to our office hours, so that we can cross pollinate and promote good practices within the superchain.
Performance KPIs:
- Number of community members leaving due to unmanaged conflict:
We have not observed any significant resignations or departures due to unresolved conflicts. We aim to maintain this standard by continuing proactive engagement.
- Token votes related to conflict management actions:
So far, no council members have been dismissed or challenged through the Representative Removal proposal mechanism, reflecting strong trust in the CoCC’s operations and decisions.
- Separation of conflict visibility from the collective:
We have maintained a high level of confidentiality, ensuring that conflicts are handled privately until resolution, with public announcements made only when necessary, in accordance with the Charter guidelines. In that sense, we are actively contributing to the perceived well being of the collective.
2. Impact assessment - how well did your team’s outputs support the Intent they were authorized under?
The CoCC has successfully upheld its mandate in managing conflicts while maintaining a focus on decentralization and community-driven governance. Our proactive efforts, such as offering early guidance and mediation before conflicts escalate, have been highly effective. Additionally, our monthly office hours have allowed us to engage directly with the community, ensuring we remained accessible. While office hours can foster greater visibility of the council and its work, in practice, reports do not usually occur in public and synchronous spaces.
The CoCC has conveyed a sense of rigor and fairness in the community that has influenced the perceived well-being of this season 6. Not having huge emergencies can be considered a good sign, and we are ready and available for any cases that arise, big and small.
We are individually studying every case that is reported, acting as sensory nodes for the community and the foundation, and besides promoting short term solutions, we are identifying valuable feedback and improvement opportunities to consolidate the recommendations listed as final points of this post.
We consider that the impact of our work should not be isolated from the work of other councils and groups that are key for the sustainability of the organization, so we highlight our efforts towards interconnection, composability, and complementarity between the CoCC and all governance structures. Our impact is to be a support wheel so that all other stakeholders can coordinate and overcome difficulties.
3. What changes would you make to the Internal Operating Procedures (IOP’s)?
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We propose adding stronger guidelines for communication in public forums and Discord channels to prevent escalations arising from abusive language or harassment.
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The current scope of the CoCC is clear, but there is a need to further focus on filling governance gaps as the superchain grows. We need to think in emergent areas of conflict related to the expanding complexity of the superchain, to promote clear boundaries for what is shared and what is not shared between chains, and consolidate good practices.
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There should be more connection between the CoCC and the provision of mediation by third parties. Currently they are expected to be of easy access to the community with their own forms and presence, but we consider that managing two forms separately is harder than managing one, in which cases are then delegated to the right team. We think having just one form could avoid double accountability, asymmetry of information, and arbitrary callings to the mediation third party.
4. Suggested Changes to the Charter:
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Create strategies to increase and measure Interconnection between the CoCC and other teams. Eg: Visibility of the council’s availability during community spaces, collaborations with other councils and governance teams, and activity of the council lead to feedback activities.
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Furthermore, clearer guidelines regarding sanctions—specifically the process and criteria for issuing warnings, temporary suspensions, and other enforcement actions—should be further detailed in the Charter
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CoCC was not included in retroactive funding for Season 6, we believe that our ongoing contributions to the governance framework should be considered for inclusion in retroactive funding for Season 7.
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We suggest to position the COCC as the main place for complaints in the collective, with the role of connecting requests to the pertinent parties, and ensuring that all cases have due diligence and are properly processed and translated into improvements.
5. Self evaluation:
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The first area where we can improve is making our processes more visible to the community, to more clearly demonstrate the impact of our work and strengthen trust in the council.
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Once elected, the council should meet twice a week for the first few months to allow for members to get even information and context for prevention and case intake. This role requires onboarding for new representatives so that handoff of information between seasons happens gracefully.
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We can strengthen collaboration between the CoCC and other governance bodies, because even though we have good communication paths with them, enhancing the composability aspect can create higher value than the sum of its parts.
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Conflict Resolution Best Practices: Continue refining our preventive approach by introducing more proactive measures, such as hosting workshops or educational sessions for the community on conflict resolution and governance. This includes consolidating evergreen content for the Optimism collective, and promoting standards for the superchain.
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Perception of value and self-inflicted pressure: Since the impact of our work is harder to measure than other contributions, there has been some self-inflicted pressure on the members of the CoCC to validate our work. We think that raising awareness about the value being brought to the collective by the CoCC can reduce the stress on council members on meeting expectations.
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Even when we would like to include enthusiasts in the community that want to support us with what we do, we decided to not mix our nature of an elected body that manages confidentiality with opening new contribution paths. We are open to collaborate with all existing contribution paths, but not stewarding any one.
6. Recommendations:
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Including more proactive guidance on Web3 security and best practices. This can help prevent certain types of conflicts related to vulnerabilities or misunderstandings around blockchain security.
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Follow up on the announcement and execution of the education sessions by the Resolv3 team for season 6.
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There is a recurring pattern of conflicts related to grant allocation and perceptions of centralization or favoritism. We recommend increasing transparency in the grant process and continuously emphasizing decentralized governance.
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We have observed a rising trend of projects manipulating transaction volumes to create misleading on-chain activity. This could damage Optimism’s reputation. We suggest stricter guidelines regarding the reporting and evaluation of on-chain data.
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We have received concerns regarding the verification and legitimacy process for profiles and projects in funding rounds. We received a complaint about 5 artists Whose NFTs were plagiarized by false profiles who eventually got benefit in their place.
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On Information asymmetry. We have noticed that there is a delta between the foundation plans and contributors’ awareness. We think that even when it is intended to not overwhelm the community with too much complexity, it would be recommended to develop complexity tolerance, looking for preparation on progressive decentralization.
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On Composability of councils and governance efforts. Thanks to the seasonal cadence of Optimism, there is a fast rotation of elected representatives, and we consider that designing an onboarding path for these roles can help handing off information and carrying good practices between seasons. Creating a rich culture is what will keep the community together, even when rotating and decentralizing.
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On Superchain boundaries and interop in governance: As Optimism expands,the CoCC should collaborate to establish governance frameworks that are interoperable, respecting local contexts while adhering to core principles. Ensuring that we continue to provide a robust framework for conflict management within the ever-evolving Optimism ecosystem.
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On Communication styles: Early indications show that most cases reflect common patterns related to communication problems. We have noticed that contributors in different platforms sometimes express themselves in terms of Interpretation, Judgement, Strategy and demands. We consider that frameworks like Nonviolent communication (NVC) can be shared and practiced to help expressing in terms of observations, feelings, needs and requests, making it easier, both to understand, express, and negotiate effectively in a life enriching dialogue.
Thank you for reading our mid-season report. We look forward to the rest of season 6 and the transition to season 7 
Remember that you can request support from the Code of Conduct Council at any time through this form, or contacting directly a member of the team.
we are happy to answer these questions.