1IP-XX: 1inch DAO Forum Migration Proposal: Commonwealth to Discourse

2.1 General Proposals
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1IP-XX: 1inch DAO Forum Migration Proposal: Commonwealth to Discourse

Executive Summary

The 1inch DAO proposes migrating our community forum from Commonwealth to Discourse to improve user experience and community engagement. This migration will provide a more stable and feature-rich platform that better serves the needs of our growing community. We will be adopting Discourse’s Business Plan at $500/month with an additional one-time migration cost of $10,000.

Background

The 1inch DAO currently uses Commonwealth as our primary forum platform for governance discussions and proposal development. While Commonwealth has served our initial needs, we have identified several limitations that Discourse addresses more effectively. At the core of our issues are the UX problems that come with using Commonwealth, most delegates have registered issues engaging with commonwealth on a day to day basis.

Platform Comparison: Commonwealth vs. Discourse

Commonwealth (Current Platform)

  • Web3-native platform designed for DAOs
  • Integrated token-gated features
  • Limited customization options and very poor UX
  • Smaller development team and community
  • Consistent performance issues with larger discussions
  • Basic moderation tools

Discourse (Proposed Platform)

  • Mature, battle-tested forum software used by major organizations
  • Extensive plugin ecosystem and customization options
  • Superior performance and scalability
  • Advanced moderation and community management tools
  • Mobile-responsive design with dedicated apps
  • Regular updates and active development
  • Proven track record with other DeFi communities

Proposed Discourse Business Plan

Based on consultation with Discourse, we are selecting the Business Plan at $500/month, which includes:

  • Up to 500K browser page views or API calls per month
  • 100GB of Storage
  • 300K Monthly Emails
  • Unlimited Users
  • 15 Staff Users
  • Standard Migration support
  • Business Authentication (OpenID Connect, Custom OAuth2, DiscourseConnect SSO, and more)

Why Business Plan Over Enterprise

While Discourse offered an Enterprise plan at $2,500/month, the Business plan meets our current needs:

  • Our projected traffic falls within the 500K monthly page views
  • 100GB storage is sufficient for our forum content
  • 15 staff users accommodate our moderation team
  • Business authentication options support our wallet integration needs

The main trade-off is that we’ll need to work with Discourse partners for the migration rather than their internal team, but this is addressed through our separate migration budget.

Migration Budget

Recurring Costs

  • Discourse Business Plan: $500/month ($6,000 annually)

One-Time Costs

  • Migration Services: $4,000 (via Discourse partner)
  • Annual Cost: $6,000 (For 2 years) $12,000)
  • Contingency Buffer: $3,000 (In the event of additional unforeseen costs.

Note: All payments will be made through an intermediary such as the 1inch Foundation or Labs due to the migration partner not accepting USDC.

Migration Scope

Content Migration

  • All existing forum posts and discussions
  • User accounts and profiles
  • Historical proposal discussions
  • Media attachments and embedded content
  • Category structure and organization

Feature Mapping

  • Commonwealth’s token-gated access → Discourse group permissions
  • Proposal templates → Discourse topic templates
  • Voting discussions → Structured polling features
  • User reputation → Discourse trust levels

What Won’t Migrate

  • Direct on-chain voting integration (will link to Snapshot)
  • Token balance displays (can be added via custom development later)
  • Some Commonwealth-specific features that lack Discourse equivalents

Expected Benefits

Improved User Experience

  • Better mobile experience with responsive design
  • Faster page loads and search functionality
  • More intuitive navigation and discovery
  • Enhanced notification system

Community Management

  • Advanced moderation tools
  • Better spam prevention
  • Detailed analytics and insights
  • Flexible permission systems

Long-term Sustainability

  • Established platform with guaranteed longevity
  • Regular security updates
  • Large ecosystem of developers and plugins
  • Extensive documentation and community support

Success Metrics

We will measure migration success through:

  • Successful transfer of 100% of historical content
  • User retention rate of 80%+ post-migration
  • Increased daily active users by 25% within 3 months
  • Improved average session duration
  • Reduced moderation workload through better tools

Community Communication Plan

Pre-Migration

  • Announcement post explaining the migration rationale
  • FAQ addressing common concerns
  • Beta tester recruitment

During Migration

  • Regular status updates
  • Dedicated support channel
  • Migration timeline visibility

Post-Migration

  • Welcome guide for the new platform
  • Video tutorials for key features
  • Feedback collection and iteration

Conclusion

Migrating from Commonwealth to Discourse represents a strategic investment in our community infrastructure. The Business Plan at $500/month provides excellent value for a mature, stable platform that will serve the 1inch DAO’s needs for years to come. The one-time migration cost of $10,000 ensures professional handling of our valuable community content.

This migration prioritizes user experience and community engagement while maintaining fiscal responsibility. We recommend approval of this proposal to enhance our governance forum and better serve our growing community.

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I’m in strong support of this proposal. The move from Commonwealth to Discourse is long overdue.
The current platform’s UX issues are a major pain point that hinders quality discussion and makes active participation more difficult than it needs to be. I’ve experienced this firsthand.
Discourse is the industry standard for a reason. The plan presented here is clear, the budget is sensible, and the expected benefits for user experience and moderation are exactly what the 1inch DAO needs to grow.
This is a strategic investment in our community. I’ll be voting in favor.

1 Like
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Based on our experience with Common so far, we support committing to a transition to Discourse. Practically all other DAOs use Discourse, and we see no major issues with the platform. It is simple, reliable, and affordable.

1 Like
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Thanks for this thread, using commonwealth from a participant’s perspective has been far from ideal, so fully agree that community should try another platform.
Discourse looks like a great alternative to move

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The budget for this proposal has been updated.

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Rhys from Common here. First off, I would like to say on behalf of the team that we are incredibly grateful to have been able to support the 1inch DAO over the past ~2 years. All of your Common experiences & feedback over the years has significantly influenced our product roadmap. It was incredibly motivating for the team when 1inch initially migrated from Discourse & we were able to collaborate with the 1inch team to significantly boost participation. Personally, I’ve enjoyed following the evolution of the DAO and all of the unique governance discussions that Common has been able to facilitate.

With that said, it is disheartening to hear that a lot of folks in the 1inch community are dissatisfied with their experience on Common. The issues outlined in this proposal & the discussion in the comments have been helpful for the team & we are actioning them right now.

I am here to support the DAO with whatever the results are of this proposal. I am happy to help facilitate the migration if it comes to that.

If you’ve ever participated in 1inch’s Common community - whether you’re a delegate or a casual lurker - I’d love to chat. It’d be great to learn about your Common experience and how we can better support 1inch DAO. Please reach out to me either on Telegram or X @RhysFH

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FranklinDAO supports this forum migration proposal as it addresses a critical infrastructure issue that directly impacts governance effectiveness. The user feedback clearly demonstrates that Commonwealth’s poor UX (unresponsive interfaces, broken spam handling, and terrible error messaging) creates significant barriers to community participation in DAO discussions. at $16K total cost this represents essential infrastructure rather than speculative spending, ensuring 1Inch’s governance platform actually functions properly for stakeholders. this is exactly the type of practical, low-cost investment that maintains DAO functionality while the DAO addresses larger financial sustainability concerns.