Questions and answers

Voting and proposals

Who can vote on a proposal?

Anyone who had voting power at the proposal's snapshot, the block just before it was submitted: members with shares that are not frozen, and delegates for the shares delegated to them at that block. In a DAO with a holding period, voting power is also read a holding period earlier, and the lower reading counts. Someone whose shares changed hands within that window can still cast a vote of weight 0, which only takes those shares out of a delegate's votes. Frozen members cannot vote. See Who can vote.

I received shares after a proposal was submitted. Why can't I vote on it?

Voting power is measured at the proposal's snapshot, the block before it was submitted, so your new shares count from the next proposal on. In a DAO with a holding period, they count on proposals submitted at least a holding period after you received them, as long as you still hold them then. This stops anyone from buying or borrowing shares to swing a vote. See Snapshots.

My delegate voted in a way I disagree with. What can I do?

Vote yourself before voting ends. Your vote replaces your delegate's for your shares, whether your delegate voted before or after you. You can also change your delegate at any time; the change counts for proposals submitted afterwards, and in a DAO with a holding period only once that period has passed. See Delegation.

How long does a vote take?

As long as the DAO's rules say: each DAO sets its own voting periods, from 10 minutes to 365 days, with a longer or equal period for critical proposals. Before the vote, a proposal may wait up to the deposit period for its deposit; after a pass, it waits out the timelock. With the Standard preset of the creation wizard, standard votes last 3 days and critical ones 7. Every proposal page shows its own dates. See Governance rules and presets.

Who executes a passed proposal?

Anyone, once the timelock is over and until the execution window closes, with Execute proposal on the proposal's page. The DAO's treasury performs the actions; whoever sends the transaction only pays the network fee. See Execution.

What happens if nobody executes a passed proposal?

Nothing. When the execution window closes, the proposal shows Execution window closed, none of its actions run, and its deposits are refunded. Members can submit it again as a new proposal. See What each status means.

Can I withdraw a proposal I submitted?

Yes, while it is still collecting its deposit, with Withdraw this proposal on its page. Once voting has started it cannot be withdrawn. Depositors then reclaim their deposits, unless the DAO's rules forfeit the deposits of proposals that never reach their minimum, which includes withdrawn ones; the page says which before you confirm. See Deposit period.

Can a proposal do more than its type says?

No. The DAO's call policy checks every action against the proposal's type when it is submitted and rejects anything outside the type's rules, including general rules aimed at another type's contracts. Anything that touches the DAO's core contracts, and other sensitive calls, must pass the critical rules. Raw transactions can do anything, which is why they always use the critical rules. See The 13 proposal types.

Can members leave and take their part of the treasury?

Not automatically: COLLAB has no built-in exit. If the DAO allows share transfers, members can pass their shares on, and a member can always return shares to the treasury; any payment from the treasury needs a proposal. See Members and shares.

Deposits and costs

Will I get my deposit back?

Usually yes: each depositor reclaims their own deposit once voting ends, with Reclaim your … deposit on the proposal's page. A DAO can choose to forfeit the deposits of proposals that are vetoed, miss quorum or never reach their minimum deposit, which includes proposals their proposer withdrew, and of freeze proposals that fail. The DAO's Settings section lists which apply, under Deposits and timing, and the composer states them before you submit. See Deposits, refunds and penalties.

What does using COLLAB cost?

Network fees in L1, and proposal deposits, which are normally refunded. COLLAB charges no fee of its own. Swap fees go to liquidity providers, and CIPNFT and GL1F charge their own protocol fees. Creating a DAO without a logo or description uses about 5.4 million gas, about 0.27 L1 at 50 gwei, and casting a vote about 131,000 gas. See Costs and gas.

Why does a failed transaction still cost L1?

GenesisL1 charges every transaction at least half the gas limit it was sent with, even when it fails. COLLAB keeps its gas limits close to what a transaction needs, checks what it can just before your wallet opens, such as whether a web address is still free or a proposal is still executable, and states what a failure would cost for its larger transactions. See Costs and gas.

Why are amounts shown in US dollars, and where does the price come from?

Amounts are in L1, with their value in US dollars beside them by default, from the L1 price the site's own server fetches from CoinGecko every ten minutes and publishes with the site. Your browser does not contact CoinGecko for it, and a price more than a day old is not shown. If you choose another currency in Settings, your browser fetches that price itself. Nothing sent on-chain is computed from these prices. See The display currency.

Names, web addresses and logos

Can a DAO change its name or its web address?

No. Both are set when the DAO is created and never change, by vote or otherwise: the contracts have no function to change them. The description, the logo and the links can change, by a representative with the permission or by a proposal. See Name, web address, logo and description.

Two DAOs have the same name. Which one is real?

The one at the web address you know: a DAO's web address, such as /dao/open-proteomics-collective, is unique and permanent, while names are not. When another DAO's name matches, or looks the same, every page of the DAO says "Another DAO has this name" and links the others. Check the /dao/… address with the community before you vote, pay or buy its token. See Another DAO has this name.

Why did creating my DAO fail although its web address was free?

Probably someone created a DAO with the same web address while yours was pending: addresses are first come, first served, and creation is a public transaction. Yours then fails, and GenesisL1 still charges at least half its gas limit. The wizard checks the address again just before your wallet opens and states the failure cost in its fee panel. To keep the stake small, create the DAO with a small logo and description and add larger ones afterwards. See A web address can be taken first.

How large can a DAO's logo and description be?

The logo is a PNG of exactly 128 × 128 pixels, at most 512 KB (524,288 bytes); the browser turns any image into one. The description is Markdown of up to 256 KB (262,144 bytes). Both are stored in the DAO's profile contract. See The logo and The description.

Does editing a logo or description fill up the chain?

The chain's state does not grow: an edit overwrites the stored bytes in place, and a shorter value clears the old tail. Every version stays in the chain's transaction history, once for a representative's edit and three times for an edit by proposal. See What an edit stores.

Safety and control

What does "alpha" mean here?

COLLAB 2.2 is new software that runs on GenesisL1 mainnet, with real L1: the alpha is tested in the real environment, not on a test network. Its contracts, server kit and website were reviewed during development, with AI assistance and apart from the implementation work, and every finding is fixed or documented, but there has been no external audit. The strip at the top of every page says so: "COLLAB runs on GenesisL1 mainnet and has had no external audit. Use small amounts." Keep in a DAO only what you can afford to lose. See Security at a glance.

Has COLLAB been audited?

Not by an independent auditor yet. The contracts went through separate AI-assisted security reviews, done apart from the implementation work, with a proof-of-concept test for every finding; every finding is fixed or documented. An outside review of the published 2.0.0 archive raised nine items, all resolved in 2.1; it was not an audit either. In release 2.2 the contract changes, the server kit and the website each had a review of their own. Until an external audit is published, keep in a DAO only what you can afford to lose. See Security.

Can the COLLAB team stop, change or empty a DAO?

No. A DAO's own contracts have no owner, no admin key and no upgrade mechanism, and only proposals passed by the DAO's members can act for it. The GL1F and CIPNFT contracts a DAO chooses to use are not COLLAB's: their administrators can change fees and terms, and the original GL1F registry's owner can delete any model, the DAO's included. The DAO's settings page shows who holds those powers. See Integrations.

Why is a token marked "not verified"?

Anyone can create a token with any name or symbol. A site vouches only for L1, wL1, the tokens its operator lists as verified and tokens issued by a DAO the site features; every other token says "… is not verified by this site." Compare its contract address with one the project publishes before you trade. A token issued by a COLLAB DAO names that DAO by its web address, which is information, not a guarantee. See Staying safe.

Which GL1F and CIPNFT contracts does a DAO use?

The ones it chose. The founders pick them when they create the DAO, and a Governance rules proposal under the critical rules can add others, including ones the DAO built itself, or remove any. The DAO's settings page lists them, marks those the site does not list, and shows who administers each. See Integrations.

Sealed data and models

Can key stewards read our sealed data?

Yes. Key stewards hold the DAO's decryption key and can open any sealed asset the DAO owns, at any time, without a vote. Votes control what the DAO does with its data, not what stewards can see, so elect stewards you would trust with the data itself. See Sealed data with CIPNFT.

Can a reveal or a declassification be undone?

No. Members who received a data key keep it, and a declassified key stays public on GenesisL1 forever. See Sealed data with CIPNFT.

Does holding a CIPNFT or a Model NFT make the DAO the owner of the IP?

Not by itself. The NFT gives the DAO control on-chain: of the encrypted data and its key, or of a model's settings and earnings. Who owns the intellectual property, and what others may do with it, is decided by law and by the agreements behind it, such as contributor agreements, licences and the DAO's constitution. Make and record those agreements before data or models enter the DAO. See Integrations.

The website and privacy

Does this website track me?

Not unless you allow it. There is no advertising or tracking cookie, and the site's server only serves its files. Your browser talks to that server, to the GenesisL1 endpoint you choose and to your wallet. US dollar amounts come from a price the site's server publishes; only if you pick another currency does your browser ask a price service. A site that turns on analytics asks you first and loads nothing before you accept. Your settings stay in your browser, and the privacy page lists every one.

Can I use my own RPC endpoint?

Yes, where the site allows it: enter an https address under Network in Settings, or an http one for a node on your own computer. COLLAB first checks that it serves GenesisL1, chain 29, with a recent block, and checks it again every few minutes. Your wallet still sends transactions through its own network settings, and before a transaction to a DAO the app reads the DAO's addresses again through that network. See RPC endpoints.

Why does the site say COLLAB is not deployed here?

The site is installed, but its operator has not yet deployed COLLAB's contracts, or not yet published the deployment to the site. Until then every page loads, and pages that read the chain say "COLLAB is not deployed on this site yet". The operator deploys and publishes from the admin page. See Deploy the protocol from /admin.

Running a site

Can I run my own copy of COLLAB?

Yes. COLLAB is open source under the MIT License. On a Debian or Ubuntu server, the release's installer, server/install.sh, sets up nginx, certificates, the admin page and the prerender job; the admin page then deploys the 20 contracts from your browser wallet, checks them against the release and publishes them on the site. The website itself is static files, so any web server can also host it, with the admin page's Deploy and Check working from the browser alone. See Running a COLLAB site.

What is the admin page, and who can use it?

The admin page, at /admin, is where a site's operator deploys COLLAB, publishes a deployment to the site, checks any deployment, changes the site settings and watches the server's status. Its tabs are Status, Deploy, Publish, Check and Site settings. Deploy and Check work in the browser alone; the others need the admin token, which the installer prints. Members never need it. See The admin page.

I lost the admin token. How do I get it back?

On the server, run sudo collab admin-token to show it again. sudo collab admin-token --new replaces it and signs everyone out, which is also what to do after a change of staff. A sign-in lasts 12 hours, and signing out holds even if the admin service restarts. See The admin page.

Does the server hold any keys or funds?

No. The contracts are deployed from the operator's browser wallet, and visitors sign in their own wallets; the server never sees a wallet's private key. Its only secrets are the admin token, the admin service's two secrets (for its sessions and for requests that came through nginx) and, as on any HTTPS server, its certificate's private key. The server keeps no visitor data beyond nginx's usual access log. See How COLLAB works.

What happens to the site if the admin service or the prerender job stops?

The site keeps working: every page still loads and reads the chain in the visitor's browser. Without the prerender job, the static pages, the sitemap and the US dollar price are not refreshed, and a published price more than a day old stops being shown. sudo collab status shows the state of each service. See Status, logs and the collab command.

Which domains does the installer set up?

By default, collab.genesisl1.com as the main host, with dao.genesisl1.com, collab.descifi.org and dao.descifi.org answering with a permanent redirect (301) to the same path on it. --main chooses another main host, --alias sets the other names and --no-aliases drops them. Point each name's DNS at the server first: a name that does not point there yet is left out of the certificate, with a warning, until you run the installer again. See Domains, redirects and certificates.

Can an operator hide a DAO or a token?

Yes, on that site only. A hidden DAO or token is left out of the site's listings, search and sitemap; its pages stay reachable by their address, with a notice, and nothing changes on chain. Another site, or the chain itself, still shows it. See Site settings.

How do I upgrade a COLLAB site?

Extract the newer release and run its own server/install.sh with the same options. The settings, the admin token, the published deployment and the site settings are kept. To go back, run the older release's installer the same way. See Upgrades, rollbacks and backups.

Related

• Key concepts: every idea on one page.
• Glossary: short definitions.
• Known limitations: what COLLAB does not do, or does with trade-offs.
• Troubleshooting: symptoms, causes and fixes for operators.