Well looks like the cat is out of the bag here (We need to talk about undisclosed financial interests - #42 by louis_caganza). But the problem isn’t limited to this forum. Ethereum foundation currently has a few agents of @SEEDGov @ETHKipu and the rest of the @CryptoChica cronies. As a result, communities that do not receive the blessing from them are blocked out from funds altogether. Instead what we see is she continuously opens the path for people with no experience or long term results.
Consider this, in Peru we have a few communities that have applied for the Eth foundation grants. Only those tied to @CryptoChica have received support. This is because she already has created a play-for-pay scheme (it can be proven without a doubt, but disclosing it may reveal my identity). In fact given the amount of connections between all the ETH XXX it still surprises me that we allow it to happen.
People really need to ask themselves, where does the money go. And is it worth it? What results are there? And how real are they?
I ask this because there are times I see pictures of a group of friends (basically the same 10 cats) and they call it a community. Bootcamps filled with spectators and nonbuilders who are just there to kill time. I know because I make it my business to know everyone in my ecosystem.
Yet these pictures are marketed as success. In the digital world, marketers can convince people that a cig is the cure the cancer, well the same happens here in the web 3 grant arena.