Folklore’s first season has officially closed. Following this, I’m happy to announce that memberships for Season 2 are now open.

The first season, started on August 20th 2022, has been so much more than we could have envisioned. Season 2 will probably be just as fun. What comes next is up to all of us. As always though, our path is slow, gentle, stern.

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Folklore launched in August 2022 with a simple mission: to create a curated space to learn and discuss the virtual world, its architecture, and its culture. If we were lucky, we’d be able to make some progress to develop a DAMN (Decentralised Autonomous Media Network). It turns out we’ve been quite lucky.

Folklore gathered 200 members and amassed ~9k USD in its treasury. About half of the treasury has been deployed to support local charities, build community software, and commission the first long-form essay (available here). We also created a basic website, published two essays from our own community members, and have gathered over 400 readers on Telegram and Mirror (Hello fellow lurkers!).

Folklore’s WIP Website: https://folklore.institute/

Our treasury now sits at about ~5.4k USD, and we're ready for Season 2. Our ambitions will now look towards building a basic community brand, doing some meetups, doubling down on commissions, and building community software (ARK)

Similar to last season, we will have a capped membership.

There will be 150 passes, each priced at 0.05 ETH.

Curators will have the option to claim a gifted membership, although donations are encouraged. Those who purchased the mid-season pass do not need to purchase a new season pass. Any member who received an engagement badge can claim a discounted price of 0.02 ETH (Just send me a DM @rafathebuilder).

Some scholarships for low-income members / partnership passes will also be sent out at my discretion (not part of the 150).

Memberships for Season 2 will be available for the next 30 days, at which point the Season 1 pass will be deprecated.

IMPORTANT: A new purchase is not necessary for mid-season pass holders, you are grandfathered into Season 2.

Many reading communities, such as Substack, work based on automatic subscriptions. Folklore will adapt a high-friction approach instead. If you don’t follow along, you will be left behind. We are travelling in a dark forest… beware of the culling.

The second benefit of this approach is that we reward and support those who actively participate in Folklore’s mission. When we think about Folklore as decade-long project, we aim to have 150 involved members. Not 150 passive subscribers (that membership will launch later).

Season 1 closed once we completed two things: (1) our first commission and (2) our basic community software. This season, like the first, will likely last a year or less.

However, Folklore will not have start or end dates. Removing the pressure of timelines has been beneficial and we will continue the tradition. By sacrificing certainty, we prioritize flow. This is our way; seasons at Folklore will be based on community maturity, not the Gregorian calendar.

During the next season we will attempt to increase the number of content commissions. For example, instead of one commission, we can strive for 3 or 4. In addition, treasury funds will be allocated to hardening and decentralising the core Folklore software. Over time, we will want a fully decentralized community framework: interface agnostic, censorship resistant, persistent. For example, we will look to create a way such that our curated content is not susceptible to link rot.

We want to thank the Forefront team for their support with OnPulse. Moving forward, we will be using Folklore’s ARK framework, which uses gasless Ethereum signatures and an RSS feed. For those curious, you can visit submit.folklore.institute.

A quick note that only those selected as curators will be able to submit content. The curators today include Jihad, Keely, Aron, Pedro, and myself. The role of curator is voluntary, with a maximum of 5 people at any given time. Curators will be encouraged to rotate regularly and participate as a peer-to-peer membership program.

Thank you again to the 200 supporters from the last year. The treasury has allowed us to invest in high-quality content, experiment together, and find new paths of virtual connection. With some Grind, Belief, and a dash of Luck, we might just be able to create a fully autonomous entity adventuring through networked digital realms.

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