# Reflection on the Shift of MAP Protocol Towards Community-Driven Development By [MAPDAO](https://paragraph.com/@mapdao) · 2023-10-10 --- **_Author： @ James of MAPDAO_** **_Translator： @ Xiaosong HU_** MAP Protocol is an open-source infrastructure, and the pioneers of open-source infrastructure development, such as Linux and Apache, have historically been primarily driven by contributions from community developers, and can only obtain two dimensions of incentives: self-fulfillment and community achievement, with a notable absence of wealth acquisition. The emergence of Ethereum, for the first time, incorporated an open-source software infrastructure into the token model and incentivized stakeholders (developers, validators, and community token holders) to contribute through tokens. Beyond the technological innovations it brought, this token-based incentive system is one of the core principles behind Ethereum's success. However, later infrastructures have predominantly centered around official entities. To put it simply, they have taken on the form of corporate structures when developing infrastructure and ecosystems. This form leads to a short project lifecycle. The relationship between the core team and developers or the community is often transactional rather than collaborative in terms of mutual growth. This can be observed from their official websites. The official websites of Ethereum, Apache, and Linux resemble more of a collaborative Wikipedia, driven by content and design contributions from the community. In contrast, other infrastructure projects have websites that function more as brand showcases, reflecting a Web 1.0 format. However, the website is merely a surface representation, with the driving force lying behind it. I believe it's necessary to begin by analyzing the infrastructures that I consider successful in community development. 1. Ethereum. Its key to success lies in its ability to attract the most innovative smart contract development engineers, although non-smart contract engineers such as designers and translation contributors are also crucial. How did they manage to attract these engineers? It was through translation, a Wikipedia-style website contribution mechanism, and organizing various hackathons by community members or the foundation itself. Through these channels, they brought these imaginative engineers to the forefront. Then, through incubators, they nurtured and assisted them to succeed. For instance, Uniswap was initially developed by a relatively ordinary engineer from Siemens and was later incubated by the Ethereum Foundation. The same applies to ENS. 2. Solana is also one of the most developer-friendly public blockchains. Their approach primarily revolves around an incubator. Solana's incubator supports hundreds of engineering teams, both directly and indirectly paid, working on various projects. Each individual might be involved in 3-5 or more projects. This, in turn, has attracted thousands of external developers to join the Solana developer community. They also recruit incubator developers by organizing hackathons in different locations, and these hackathons attract individuals to deploy applications directly on Solona without contacting the official Solana team. 3. Polygon's core strategy involves a keen sense of timing, and making the right moves in the developer community at the right moments. For instance, during a bull market, they offer grants, which attract attention from crypto investors who perceive Polygon's ecosystem as particularly vibrant, subsequently driving up token prices. Hundreds of grants inevitably lead to genuine development, bringing in a wave of real developers. To solidify the ecosystem, Polygon then hires a large number of senior business development personnel and starts expanding its partnerships into traditional industries and major projects. It's all about playing to the rhythm. It can be said that Ethereum has already taken the lead in the single-chain technological innovation. Therefore, it might be challenging for subsequent public blockchains to continuously introduce groundbreaking innovations that capture the imagination of brilliant developers. Ethereum remains an attractive option for them. However, MAP Protocol operates in a different category as a full-chain platform, opening up new avenues for smart contract engineers to create novel solutions, such as Butter the full-chain payment protocol, Bithop the full-chain DeFi protocol, and the mrc20 the full-chain token issuance tool. 4. Let's compare the user communities of Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. Although Solona and Polygon have done well as developers, their non-developer communities are relatively ordinary, primarily driven by speculative trading rather than active community contributions. In contrast, Ethereum's Wikipedia-style official website reflects a commitment to community involvement, including translation, allowing users to add related categories of ecosystem projects, and contributing to article content. Users actively contribute to every aspect of Ethereum's ecosystem. 5. Different paths lead to different types of users. In the Ethereum community, holding users have a preference for lower speculative trading and higher involvement in contributions. Ethereum developers tend to focus on innovation (e.g., ENS, Uniswap) with less of a get-rich-quick mentality. On the other hand, developers on Solana and Polygon have fewer original projects, and non-developer users are more inclined toward speculative trading. This results in an intriguing phenomenon: Ethereum's developers and holding users are less profit-driven, yet they end up making more and longer-lasting profits. It aligns with the philosophical idea from the Tao Te Ching, 'Borrow from what is temporary to achieve what is eternal, embrace the negative to gain the positive, stillness is the basis of movement, and clarity is the source of impurity.' 6. 'The highest virtue is not virtuous, therefore it truly possesses virtue.' Let's analyze the models Ethereum borrowed from: Apache and Linux. They are non-token open-source communities, consisting entirely of technical developers, with no focus on ordinary users. Moreover, due to the absence of tokens, both technical developers and contributors have no financial expectations. Their motivation is driven solely by inner satisfaction and community recognition. Ethereum's token issuance addresses all three needs of contributors: material gain, inner satisfaction, and external reputation. 7. Regarding developer community development, Apache and Linux rely heavily on incubators. The projects' sources for incubators have several stages, each building upon the previous one. 1) Projects are submitted online through the official website. 2) Through offline technical forums (hackathon shows), promising projects are identified. 3) A mentor program is initiated, providing comprehensive support (MAP's mentor program could be effectively implemented, involving venture capitalists and developer tool providers looking for new projects, which could both enhance their business opportunities and fulfill their mentorship desires, while also improving their external reputation). The MAP Foundation could receive 3% of shares in return and grant $3,000 to $5,000. 4) Projects within and outside the incubator can be showcased on the new Wikipedia-style official website of MAP Protocol. This is because being inside the incubator doesn't necessarily mean it's good, and not being in the incubator doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. On the MAP Protocol Wikipedia website, developers can post their own needs, such as recruiting partners, resource requirements, or even community fundraising campaigns. 8. MAP Protocol should function as an open Wikipedia-style official website, mainly targeting two major user groups: developers (defined as those leading industry innovation) and non-developers. 9. Absolute data transparency. Due to the development of community channels, data such as the number of hackathon events, participants, translation contributors, code contributions, project statistics, and more should be transparently available. Simplicity and clarity should be prioritized over aesthetics. > For non-developers: > > * Encourage participation through various programs such as translation, offline hackathons, video production, design, etc., to provide a sense of inner satisfaction to the community. > > * Reward those who make practical contributions with MAP tokens (material incentives). > > * Acknowledge their contributions by featuring them on the official website. > > * Provide information on how users can delegate staking to maintain the security of the main network. > > * Explain how to acquire a wallet, obtain MAP tokens, and use MAP tokens in various ecosystem projects. > > For developers: > > * Enable project submissions online. > > * Organize offline hackathons (or cost-effective online equivalents) hosted by the community. > > * Facilitate entry into the incubator, where developers receive support. > > * Showcase their projects on the Wikipedia-style MAP official website. > > * Offer mentorship support, connecting them with experts in areas such as web2 login integration, investment, on-chain liquidity, and low-level technical consultations. > > * Provide opportunities for more profound incubation, including addressing team daily expenses or further venture investments, with the possibility of renegotiating partnership equity ratios." > How do heaven and earth harmonize, and why does the universe's energy operate flawlessly like code? Returning to the concept of community development, the community itself is the true source of energy. Wikipedia-style official websites, incubators, and various participation mechanisms are merely material representations and vessels through which this energy manifests. This necessitates that what can be made clear must be made clear. When mistakes occur, they should be corrected promptly, rather than keeping things vague. The more detailed, the better, and when space is limited, hyperlinks can be used. This means we should firmly avoid summarizing complex matters in a single sentence with an accompanying image, as was often seen on Web 1.0 websites. If you look at the official websites of Linux, Apache, and Ethereum, you'll find very few images; the few present are symbolic, much like a national flag. To encourage more developers and builders to come together, we need mature and established mechanisms to fulfill people's aspirations for self-achievement, material rewards, and community recognition—accommodating various stakeholders in an orderly and harmonious manner. MAP Protocol is a full-chain platform, not in competition with single-chain blockchains like Ethereum. Being a full-chain platform enables us to explore entirely new and innovative possibilities. Therefore, we have the qualifications and opportunities to attract developers with a genuine spirit of innovation to collaborate and build this community. Furthermore, we have the energy to pursue our visions without constantly focusing on token prices. I firmly believe that MAP Protocol is not only necessary but also urgently requires community-driven development. This necessitates transforming the community into a product and establishing an operational framework. In this regard, Apache, Linux, and Ethereum have provided us with valuable guidance. Chinese version: [https://mirror.xyz/0x280aEf7073c34FF93ea9DbcF0624B46aB0927820/PV8VfMTG\_oXmnj-qOtgTdlj5EGdTyxsBn7x5-0sA0mo](https://mirror.xyz/0x280aEf7073c34FF93ea9DbcF0624B46aB0927820/PV8VfMTG_oXmnj-qOtgTdlj5EGdTyxsBn7x5-0sA0mo) --- *Originally published on [MAPDAO](https://paragraph.com/@mapdao/reflection-on-the-shift-of-map-protocol-towards-community-driven-development)*