Adding answers to additional questions here, will start numbering where prev FAQ left off:
15. What party will actually be responsible for applying for a Confusion Capital grant? Is that you? The Vanguards themselves?
During the 21-day pre-election, Vanguard candidates must post their public application (information form question #12 above) in the specified Reserve Forums category. Their original post, plus Q&A in the comments, forms the full application.
16. How will Vanguard candidate applicants be chosen by the community?
RSR holders or stakers will use a Snapshot vote to stack-rank candidates based on a brief description and a link to each candidates application. This vote takes place over a 7-day election period. For example a single Snapshot vote could reference 5 or 10 or more candidates.
17. How do we ensure max participation without endless wrangling? How will Vanguard candidates and RSR voters stay informed about the 21-day pre-election and 7-day election periods?
Advance, high-frequency promotion is essential—not just explaining what to do but why it matters. We need to enroll participants in the broader mission and impact. We need to show even inactive RSR holders the long-term value of the Vanguard program. Many community members simply wait to be invited, unsure where to begin. This has to be the unmissable invitation that lights the path forward.
18. What party will be responsible for generating the infrastructure that ensures the success of this? This RFC is a great springboard, but I imagine there needs to be coordination (when, how to meet?), documentation (meeting minutes, content briefs), and the like beyond the proposed Discord channel. Again, is that you or something the Vanguards will generate?
- Infrastructure needed by ABC Labs per epoch:
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21 day pre-election period
- Setup Discord channel #Rangers-Vanguard with workflow requiring minimum RSR or RToken balance for entry (Jon_HQ and I can research safe bot/wallet options). Deprecate #The-Roundtable.
- Exciting education and promotion on Vanguards what-why-how+logistics and community agitation
- Create Reserve Forums category dedicated to Vanguard applications (these are the “minutes” and the responsibility falls on the community and the candidates)
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7 day election period
- Snapshot construction, publishing
- Exciting education and promotion on Vanguards what-why-how+logistics and community agitation
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7 day post election admin period - epoch kickoff
- Collect tax forms for USA based grant winners
- Publish epoch kickoff forum/blog post from highlighting recent quarter progress/updates and “areas of interest” in the coming quarter (for example what DTFs are, why they are exciting, how it could work on the Reserve protocol)
- 𝕏 Spaces to discuss epoch kickoff forum/blog post and answer questions with Vanguards, Rangers and the broader community
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120 day epoch
- Amplify the Vanguards and Rangers publishing content, enroll the community to amplify!
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19. Money is a great incentive, obviously, but a) what if the content sucks and doesn’t accomplish the states goals, and b) not enough people come forward to participate? Will there be an open call? Active recruiting?
To ensure high-quality content and engagement, at least 50% of the Vanguard role should focus on “Reply-Guy” strategies on 𝕏 and Discord, providing quick, valuable responses and ABC/DTF inspiration. I’m available to help co-facilitate workshops on effective strategies, offering data, examples, and templates. I also recommend Vanguards read Hook Point: How To Stand Out in a 3 Second World to sharpen their impact. With only three Vanguard candidates initially, we can focus on the highest-value contributors and build muscle shaping the program collaboratively. Additionally, a quarterly 𝕏 content workshop with Vanguards and Rangers will enable us to assess successes, exchange insights, and offer free training—fostering a culture of growth. Given that Vanguards and Rangers may not yet have high reach on 𝕏, this is also a chance to help them expand their audience, so we can scale our impact together.
Last note:
Vanguard candidates should take ownership of their applications and compete (if they snooze, they lose). Confusion Capital supplies the grant funding, while ABC Labs handles program infrastructure and administration–significant promotion is critical. While I would favor ABC Labs leading on the latter point, it’s also possible to outsource admin and infra of the program to someone like @StableScarab (already active in Reserve / ETH+ and other stablecoin communities) who is launching https://proofofcontent.io/.
Call To Action:
If you’re in the community and reading this, please share your critiques, questions, or support. Unless there’s a need to move faster, let’s allow this to marinate within the community until around November 15, after which we’ll aim to secure YAE or NAE support from key stakeholders.