Inconsistencies in our RetroPGF3 evaluation

[WomenBizCore]

Dear Optimism Retro PGF3 Committee,

I hope this message finds you well. First of all, we want to express our gratitude for the opportunity to apply for Retro PGF3, the second is that we want to know why our application and appeal were denied, showing our evidence with real metrics of contribution to the optimistic ecosystem. Although there were thousands of applications, ours reflects the great contribution, however we did not pass and there are some that do not show any real metrics and have passed, we must be attentive to that due to the quality of the applications.

In this post we want to leave the impact and evidence that demonstrates our work in the ecosystem:

Project Name: Women Biz - Optimism Impact
Link to application: Optimism Agora

*Inconsistence in evaluation: They claim to make contributions, but there’s no real impact and their talks are not checkable (always pictures with the OP logo, nothing else).

*Why it should be reviewed again?:

We want to start by highlighting that our community in Peru has been working hard to promote the Optimism ecosystem. Throughout this period, we have carried out a number of significant initiatives that have contributed to the growth and adoption of Optimism in Latam. These initiatives range from the development of events, workshops, tours throughout Peru, teaching how to mint NFTs, POAPs, how to delegate votes, publications in the forum, on mirror.xyz, how to earn airdrops, interviews about funds in Optimism, how participate in retro PGF and how to apply for Optimism grants. It’s not just a photo with the OP logo, it’s more than that, it’s a lot of hard work behind it, since we even appeared in one of the most popular newspapers in Peru promoting retroPGF2 in which we won 21k OP and all the work we did until now is here:

*Interview from a Optimism ambassador
Pheyyex gave us an interview about our experience in retroPGF2
*Airdrops: Workshop
we made a workshop to our community and mentioned OP airdrops we received
*Retro PGF2
We got 21k OP in RetroPGF2
*Web3Day: Bridging the Gap with Optimism and Public Goods
We talked about Public Good - Optimism
*OP Foro
Post read on the OP Foro
*Optimism Workshops
The web3 tours throuh Peru, we visited for first time in web3 education
*POAPs - Empowered
In each event we did poaps to validate attendance to Empowered workshop
*Giveth Interview
We were interviewed in the round of giveth
*Poaps - Workshop
Learn how to mint NFT in the OP network
*WB events
Web 3: Exploring the Digital Future | WomenBiz
*WB events
Finances in Action | WomenBiz
*Optimism Workshops
Our experience with OP ecosystem
*WB coworking
We made a discount in our coworking to develop OP projects
*WB - OP Governance
Votes delegates for Optimism Badgeholders
*NFT - Ambassadors on Zora
We made our collection with our NFT Ambassadors
*Post on Mirror.xyz
We made publications on mirror.xyz in Optimism network

Our evidence here:

WomenBiz - Optimism Impact

80% of our events are in-person, which has allowed us to connect directly with the local community and share the enthusiasm for Optimism. We are more about showing photographs on our networks to evaluate our activities, these images capture the essence of our commitment and dedication. In addition, we have organized numerous virtual events that have reached a global audience and have contributed to the dissemination of Optimism, such as the interview of an Optimism ambassador from Africa with whom we did a Twitter space.

We hope you will consider this additional information. We are committed to continuing to work to promote Optimism in our region and want to participate in this round RetroPGF3 for all the work we did to promove the Optimism ecosystem.

Thanks WB

[joanbp]

Hi WB

First off - the review process is over, and sadly you didn’t make it through this time. That is what it is.

Second - Looking at your application, I think I would personally have voted in favour of keeping it. I can see that two of the original five reviewers and one of the five appeals reviewers voted to keep it - but more people voted to remove it.

I don’t know if it is of any use to you, but for future reference I will share here why I, personally, see your application as potentially problematic. I do this with the hope that you will get further the next time around.

• Your application actually states under ‘funding sources’ that you received OP 2,106,776 in RPGF2. From what I read in your post here, and elsewhere in your application, that is a factual mistake. Some reviewers might consider it deception.

• Regular user actions are not in scope for RPGF3. Transfering money, claiming POAPS, minting NFTs, voting, delegating, writing posts in a forum… All of these actions are good, but they are out of scope, and so, from the point of view of a reviewer, they are ‘noise’ in your application.

• Offline events are relevant but tricky unless they are somehow carefully documented in a way that someone would be able to verify after the fact. Different reviewers may have different thresholds here - if there are not very strong proofs, it’s really a judgement call. What would convince you that an event took place somewhere in China; that actual people participated; AND that it had real value to the OP Collective (including you)?

• You mention ‘ambassadors’. Are you referring to the Ambassador contribution path? I don’t think you are, but some reviewers could get confused by this, as the contribution path ambassadors have a separate application as a group, and double funding is something to be avoided.

• Using the word ‘airdrop’ in your application could be a bit of a red flag to some.

Those were the problematic parts, as I see it.

What I think you DO have that might well qualify for RPGF, are your education and onboarding efforts. I strongly believe in the importance of these things, and I would personally have liked to see them rewarded. I think your post here does a better job at highlighting these efforts than your application and your submitted appeal text (with more focus and a bit less ‘noise’, though still some).

—

I hope this feedback may be at least slightly useful for you going forward.

Please also note that these are just my personal reflections and views - other badgeholders might still view things differently. I actually see that ‘inconsistency’ as a strength in that it allows for more diversity than any ‘objective’ framework would. Ten humans evaluated your application, and seven of them were not convinced this time. But ten humans actually read and considered it, and five of them also considered your appeal. Personally, I think that is a quite fair procedure.

I wish you well in the future!

—

Edited to add: Oh, one more thing - the ‘reason’ given for your rejection was not written by the reviewers, but by the person who flagged your application in the first place. That could be anyone, and so you really shouldn’t give the exact wording too much weight.

[criptomommy]

Joan, I very much appreciate your detailed feedback on our application and your perspective on why we did not pass the review. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify some points and share more about our commitment to the Optimism ecosystem.

I am Briguit Reinaldo, the founder of Women Biz, and I got involved in the world of Web3 in late 2021. We started collaborating with Optimism in early 2022 and had the honor of receiving Retro PGF2 this year. We have worked tirelessly to empower more women in the Web3 ecosystem, offering in-person events and onboarding training. We are proud of the achievements we have made, and the support from Optimism has been instrumental in our growth. Our vision is to decentralize tech education and take it to different cities in our country.

We appreciate your insights and are willing to learn and improve. Your analysis is valuable and accurate in many respects. However, I would like to clarify some points you mentioned.

Regarding the number of actions taken, we have carried out multiple activities over these months, and we have documented each one of them. We have shared evidence through videos on our YouTube channel and our social media. What has surprised us is how our application is rated compared to others that seem to have fewer metrics and concrete actions. Should we limit ourselves to a single action and be more concise in future applications?

We are also interested in better understanding the evaluation criteria used by reviewers, as we have invested time and effort in educating our community and traveling across the country to spread the message of Optimism to different cities. We have organized local events, collaborated with universities and communities, and created a coworking space for projects related to Optimism. Our ambassadors, representatives of Women Biz, work tirelessly to disseminate knowledge about the Optimism ecosystem.

Our passion for impact is genuine, and we have reflected all our efforts in our application and appeal. Even some other people’s applications include links to the activities we have carried out.

We hope that we can clarify these concerns and gain a better understanding of how to improve our future applications. We are committed to our goal of driving the Optimism ecosystem and continuing to empower more women in the tech world.

We appreciate your time and feedback and look forward to continuing to collaborate constructively.

Sincerely,

Briguit Reinaldo
Founder of Women Biz

[Ayison]

Thank you @joanbp for taking the time to respond and clarify certain points regarding our application. Your feedback is immensely valuable to us.

I am a member of the Women Biz Core Team from its inception, and alongside the team, we have been actively working to onboard more women into the web3 ecosystem. We consistently emphasize the use of Optimism for project creation, while also promote the use of platforms like Zora, Mirror, and Chamverse. It is discouraging to see our application rejected despite the significant efforts made throughout this year.

I also want to bring to light that some other applications, with comparatively minimal or no results, made it to the voting round. Even one of them directly referenced one IRL event we organized together. I choose not to disclose their name as it seems unproductive. My intention here is not to criticize other applications but to prompt reflection on the review process and how to prevent similar situations, considering the potential ambiguity in the reasons for rejection.

We’re open to any additional feedback on our application and look forward to any advice for our next attempt as our optimism remains unwavering.

[Liliop.eth]

Thank you so much for your feedback! but I also want to say to the other badgeholders some points that are relevant to this application.

First, my name is Lilian and I’m a Women Biz core ambassador, I have witnessed the great effort we have put into this great Women Biz project and the impact we set out to achieve since we started in 2022. Throughout that time, I have achieved many personal things since I have been part of the community, some of the results: I feel more empowered, educated about web3 and Optimism(I’m experimenting EAS) more optimistic and a better person.

All of this thanks to the events, things, interviews that we have organized to promote education in new technologies to many Latin women.

I have personally given many workshops and interviews in English and Spanish about the optimistic ecosystem and the different opportunities we have in this construction of projects and I am proud to say that many girls have been correctly onboarded from creating their metamask to creating their first collection of their photographs in zora and Optimism network.
In fact, many scholarships to travel to Eth Argentina to attend our first Eth event abroad, all of this was possible with the retroactive funds we received. In addition to that, we have traveled throughout Peru bringing education in web3 and Optimism to thousands of Peruvians who had no knowledge of anything, we have made them create a wallet from zero and start minting NFts, receiving their first OPs and creating their own projects on the OP network.

All of this would not have been possible without the support of each of our ambassadors and team, we have grown so much and we greatly appreciate the support of the optimistic team. In this application we have a bad taste of not having gone to the next step but everything we have done and will continue to do for the Optimistic ecosystem is now exposed.

Let’s not sow cons among ourselves as Latinos, on the contrary we should support each other so that this ecosystem continues growing.

For more women with opportunities in web3, for more Latin girls around the world and for more optimists!!!
Lilian

[_BelenAgurto]

Joan an dear gentlemen of Optimism, from my position I am very surprised by the decision regarding Women Biz. Complementing a little what Briguit commented.

My name is Belen Agurto, at 23 years old I am an ambassador and director of Women Biz events, I have known the community since its beginnings and I realized the purpose and commitment it has with each woman who joins. From there I made the decision to join the team without knowing about web3, they guided me to create content, lead events, and currently lead human talent, ambassador performance, recruitment, climate and culture and the training for them, of course. together with more girls who optimally complement the area. Above all, I highlight the knowledge that I acquired about Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, Protocols, Web Platforms 3. In addition, the values ​​that they have maintained as a community since day 1 and how it is reflected in each ambassador and member of the community.

Being an active community with 34 ambassadors working to continue empowering more women, one of the most notable protocols within each Women Biz event is undoubtedly Optimism, to which we give repeated mention, both in person and virtually, which even sounds funny but a One of our must-have phrases is “always optimistic”, recalling the protocol already mentioned.

Taking into account the outstanding mention optimize and gratitude that we have for its retroactive fund provided in 2022, thanks to the contributions we have made as a community, the decision is very surprising. There is not much to comment, since WomenBizCore has shared all the tests in detail.

Many of us would like to know why some communities with almost no mention of optimization in their activities have been approved vs. our constant and repeated mention of Optimism has been rejected.

Thank you in advance for your attention.

• Belen