After all the hype around “This is Nouns”, we have made an article that we recommend reading in its entirety to fully understand the issue and not miss any part of this story.
What is Nouns DAO?
Nouns is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and a non-fungible token (NFT) collection that aims to improve how on-chain communities interact. The Nouns DAO uses its treasury, which holds about $35 million in Ethereum (ETH), to fund public goods and initiatives such as charity efforts and events around the world.
What are Nouns DAO NFTs?
Nouns NFTs are pixel art characters that are algorithmically generated, stored on the Ethereum blockchain, and sold through auctions. Every Noun NFT represents a vote in the Nouns DAO, and at least two Nouns are required to submit proposals to the DAO. Nouns is open-source and uses a Creative Commons CC0 license, which allows users to use and modify the Nouns brand and IP without any restrictions.
How was Nouns DAO created?
The Nouns project was developed by a group of ten co-founders (Nounders), including Dom Hofmann, the founder of Vine. Each Noun NFT is a 32-pixel by 32-pixel picture that is generated randomly every 24 hours and put up for auction. Once an auction closes, another unique Noun is minted based on predefined traits and the process repeats indefinitely. The Nouns smart contract automatically sends 100% of the proceeds from the auctions to the DAO Treasury.
Do you receive ETH to execute your idea?
Members of the Nouns DAO can sponsor and vote on proposals for the treasury to fund. The idea is that the more unique and interesting the proposals are, the more brand awareness Nouns will gain and the more people will want to join. Since its inception, Nouns DAO has allocated more than 15000ETH to fund more than 148 on-chain community proposals and more than 350 community proposals through Prop House.
What makes Nouns DAO unique?
Nouns has gained a reputation for its novel distribution method and open-source IP, which has led to the Nouns brand and pixelated characters appearing in various places such as on beer cans and in movies. The Nouns concept has been successful in building a multimillion-dollar decentralized brand and has attracted a large and active community.
What was the origin of “This is Nouns”?
Proposal 113 resulted in the creation of “This is Nouns,” a commemorative video that celebrates the spirit of Nouns and provides an entertaining explanation of the Nouns DAO. The video also serves as a source of CC0 content that can be used by anyone to create their own content.
What was the process for creating the “This is Nouns” mint?
Nouns DAO is excited to provide a platform for artists and creators through the release of “This is Nouns,” a creative work commissioned by the organization and minted as a non-fungible token (NFT). This process, which was initiated through Proposal 190, allows the video to become part of the NounsDAO canon and enables Nouns to continue exploring and experimenting with new models of CC0 art production and distribution. By minting the video directly through a proposal, Nouns can directly release and distribute important artifacts from the community, potentially advancing the organization into a crypto-native movie studio, production house, or art museum.
What is the purpose or goal of creating this type of mint?
Within the Nouns DAO community, it is common for members to collect POAPs as a way of demonstrating their presence at events organized by the community. These POAPs serve as a fun way to recognize and reward active community members with nounish art. Examples of such events include Twitter Spaces held by various Nouns communities and in-person gatherings around the world. In addition to POAPs, which are a regular feature of daily life within the community, there are specific events or important dates that inspire members to create mints, often through the use of Zora, in order to celebrate these occasions and have a special commemorative NFT in their wallets. Examples of such events include “Nounish Holidays ⌐◨-◨,” which marked the Christmas season within the community, and “Put Your Noggles On,” a song created for the Rose Bowl Parade. At important moments in the community, many people desire a tangible memento of the event, and in the case of a crypto-native community, an NFT is a popular way to create and support creators within the community.
What set “This is Nouns” apart from other projects or initiatives?
For “This is Nouns,” the decision was made to follow the common practice of creating a mint as a way for members of the community to obtain commemorative NFT of the video, which had been in production for six months. When the mint was initially released, there was a high volume of interest from community members, which attracted the attention of individuals outside the community who participated in the mint without fully understanding the context or purpose. After obtaining the NFTs, some of these individuals sought to learn more about “This is Nouns” and were disappointed with it since they did not buy it to have a commemorative NFT but to speculate with it.
What is the community around Nouns DAO doing to help them?
In response to the dissatisfaction expressed by some individuals regarding the “This is Nouns” mint, several members of the Nouns DAO community have taken steps to address the issue and find a resolution. This includes creating a dedicated space in The Noun Square Discord (#this-is-nouns) to allow for the concerns of affected users to be heard, as well as the initiative of an independent member who has created a Twitter account (@ThisIsNounish) to provide updates on efforts to address the situation. These actions reflect the values of inclusivity and support that have been central to the Nouns community since its inception.
Will There be “Utility” for This is Nouns?
To address the dissatisfaction surrounding the “This is Nouns” mint, some members of the community are exploring the possibility of implementing a gamification system through Prop House and reinterpreting the collection. This would allow for a mechanism similar to those used by other communities to be put in place. Any decisions made in regards to this issue will be made publicly and all members of the community will have the opportunity to review the direction that “This is Nouns” takes.
What is Prop House?
Prop House is a public infrastructure funded by Nouns DAO. It is an experimental approach for communities to distribute capital. Through funding rounds, communities auction fixed amounts of capital to creators with the best ideas.
We are stronger together. Don’t give up on the community
To those who have recently joined the community through “This is Nouns”, I encourage you to take some time to learn about Nouns DAO and how it operates. It may seem unusual at first that the community rewards members with ETH for implementing their ideas and allows for the use of its art under a CC0 license to create your own products and communities, but I believe that if you spend some time learning about the DAO, you will see why the community is so strong. It’s a really special community where you can find people with the same passion as you, create synergy and turn your vision into reality without the need to buy any NFT, simply by dedicating your time to scale your talent.
Together we are stronger, Together we are better, Together we are nounish.