Operating Manual Update Proposal

Proposals šŸ“ƒ
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The Optimism Foundation proposes the following changes to the Operating Manual: Operating Manual v2.0.0 by JSeiferth Ā· Pull Request #70 Ā· ethereum-optimism/OPerating-manual Ā· GitHub

The changes proposed are summarized below:

  • Removes all mention of the Citizens House, as the Foundation has decided to temporarily pause its operations

  • Removes all mention of Joint House voting as only the Token House will vote while the Citizensā€™ House is paused

  • Adds key election policies previously outlined in various forum posts for clarity

Action Required

Additions to the Operating Manual do not require governance approval. Removals of important items from the Operating Manual do require approval. Therefore, the Token House must approve the proposed changes with a 51% approval threshold. If you vote ā€œyesā€ for this proposal, the PR will be approved and merged to update the Operating Manual hosted here: Operating Manual v2.0.0 by JSeiferth Ā· Pull Request #70 Ā· ethereum-optimism/OPerating-manual Ā· GitHub

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The following reflects the views of L2BEATā€™s governance team, composed of @kaereste and @Manugotsuka, and is based on their combined research, fact-checking, and discussion.

We voted ABSTAIN.

While this update is framed as a simple administrative cleanup to avoid delegate confusion, we decided to abstain because we cannot support the sanitizing language being used to justify it. Presenting the removal of the Citizens House and Joint House voting as a ā€œtemporary pauseā€ is a polite euphemism. The likelihood of these structures being reactivated in their original form is extremely low. By treating this as a minor operational adjustment, the proposal quietly buries one of the most fundamental pillars of Optimismā€™s dual house governance without having the honest and difficult debate that such a permanent shift deserves.

We understand that keeping inactive rules in the Operating Manual is confusing for newcomers, which is why we are not voting against this. Clean rules are important for daily operations. However, voting in favor of this update would mean accepting a narrative that sugarcoats a major retreat from the original democratic vision of the Collective. If we are permanently moving away from the Citizens House, we should have the courage to state that clearly in the open rather than hiding it behind administrative housekeeping.

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