Direct link to my comment there
I clarify that I'm also posting here (beyond my politeia comment) to draw attention, since the proposal is already being voted on and will soon be closed.
I know that actually there are few actively participating in Politeia, and even fewer are keeping up to date with comments on the proposal after the vote starts. So, here I'm.
As a member of the brazilian community, I would like to share my reservations about the Decred Brazil Marketing Proposal and also take the opportunity to invite everyone to participate in the discussion in the politeia system.
EMILIO AS COMMUNITY MANAGER
In case you don't know, the guy here is completely anonymous. Only a very small group of people (3 or 4 in the whole brazilian bitcoin community) know who he really is in real life (and I think Jake came to know him personally too). Ok, I fully understand (and even support) the anonymity in this ecosystem, but I really think that things would be more transparent and secure if we could know who is the person that will be managing all this money.
And more: Emilio (who will be in charge of all these DCR) NEVER personally participated in ANY Decred marketing related event. Ask members who are always at all events how many times they have seen Emilio in person at any of these events. You can verify this fact asking about it in the brazilian community.
Do you see him in any of the photos in this post? No, that's right: the brazilian community manager has NEVER ATTENDED AND PHYSICALLY PARTICIPATED IN ANY DCR EVENT. And yet, he is asking us to put more than $ 100,000 of DCR treasure in his hands to manage marketing and events in Brazil. Could you please explain to me how does that make any sense?
Please, understand that I have nothing in particular against Emilio. We all know that he really did a great job creating a Brazilian community at the beginning of DCR and also in many other efforts related to DCR. I'm just exposing reality here as it is.
SOCIAL METRICS AND THE TRUE SIZE OF THE BRAZILIAN COMMUNITY
The Decred Brasil Facebook group, despite having 5k + members, doesn't seem to have even 50 active members. Do you doubt that? Check it for yourself. Join the group and check the posts and interactions (comments, likes, etc).
For every 10 posts in the group, 7 are from Emílio, 2 are advertisements from Bitconf staff and only one really belongs to a member asking questions or is a discussion between members of the community. The Brazilian community seems to have only diminished over time (one way to analyze this is through interactions in the group's posts).
Yes, the Brazilian community is of course much bigger than those 50 active members in the group, but most of us decided to stop participating in the group due to the dictatorial behavior of the group's creator: Emilio.
Remember: brazilians are COMPLETELY ADDICTED to social networks like Facebook and Instagram. So, these are great metrics to measure social engagement in our country. Now that you've verified the group, also check out the interactions on Instagram Decred Brasil (and come on, give it a follow!).
And let's not forget YouTube: yes, it counts ALL views. Even if you are not logged in. They only distinguish between IPs. But even if the statement (that the platform only counts views of logged accounts) were correct, what matters is that the numbers are extremely low. Just compare it to other channels of crypto communities.
LOCAL MEETUPS, INCLUDING THOSE 5 THAT TOOK PLACE ON DCR'S ANNIVERSARY
Brazil has 26 states, but in how many of them have DCR done or participated in something relevant? Let's be honest here: 99% of the interest and activity related to cryptocurrencies here in Brazil is concentrated only in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Don't try to use size or number of states as an argument, because it just doesn't make sense.
And about the 5 meetups that took place on Decred's birthday, they only happened because 3 to 5 DCR were PAID by Emilio to be spent on beer for anyone who gathered more than 5 people (even if it was your own family or any random friends who have no interest in crypto at all) in a bar, using swag from DCR (distributed for free, i.e., more useless expenditures from the treasury) and took pictures of if. You can also check this out in the group Decred Brasil, in Emilio's posts.
ON THE TWO MAIN EVENTS CITED BY THE PROPOSAL'S AUTHOR
1: CAMPUS PARTY
This one is indeed a big and prestigious event for the technology community. But DCR's participation in these events usually comes down to one or two 30-minute lectures with something between 20 to 30 people watching (which is great anyway, I know and agree totally with this!), and a lot of distribution of t-shirts and other swags to attendees of the event. Just remember that this is not a specific event for crypto.
And about the affirmation that "a place at Campus Party Sao Paulo costs from $ 50,000 to $ 400,000", do you have any evidence about this? Where can we find these prices? All speakers I know who have participated, were INVITED to participate and still had all their expenses paid for the event (after all, that's why the attendees buy their tickets and participate in the event).
2: BitConf (REALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION HERE)
BitConf, was (until last year) probably the biggest cryptocurrency event in Brazil, and it used to attract many enthusiasts and investors, but over the years it has turned into an event that basically exists to enrich its creator. Any company or business can participate, as long as they pay the sponsorship fees. Since their only filter is money, it turned into a perfect opportunity for scammers and companies that act as pyramid scheme (ponzis) to convey an image of credibility and find new victims for their scams.
Mainly in the last year (2019), the Brazilian cryptocurrency community suffered SEVERELY because of this. Thousands and thousands of people have lost ALL their money and we are still watching this story unfold. Every new week, we see the news of investors who lost everything in those scams, and, sadly, it went so far that some of them took their own lives (suicide).
All this because the administrator of this event (Wladimir Crippa) accepted the sponsorship and publicly endorsed several times all those "companies" in his facebook group (Bitcoin Brasil, with 100+ thousand members), despite the several attempts of the group members to warn him and the community that those companies were clearly scams. And do you know what happened to everyone who tried to do that? They were simply banned from the group (sometimes by Emilio, who is also a moderator in that group and a long-time friend of Wladimir Crippa). At one point it got so out of control that they had to activate the approval of posts in the facebook group, and this continues until today.
SO PLEASE, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO CONTINUE ASSOCIATING AND TARNISHING THE IMAGE OF DECRED WITH THIS EVENT (BitConf), AT LEAST DO IT WITHOUT USING TREASURY MONEY.
Little detail: the event organizer is wanted by the Brazilian police. I don't remember the reason, but I'm sure it's not related to cryptocurrencies, nor is it anything recent. Anyway, it's just an additional detail.
Anyone who has doubts about all this exposed above about BITCONF, please ask publicly (just create a post) in the "free speech" BITCOIN BRASIL facebook group. This facebook group was created when the administrators of the Bitcoin Brasil group limited the members' discourse, mainly regarding the operations of these companies (ponzi schemes). There, unlike in the group managed by Wladimir and Emilio, you can write and discuss whatever you want freely, as long as it is not advertisement of financial pyramids and other scams.
ATTENTION: do not confuse this group with the "BITCOIN BRASIL - ORIGINAL". The owner of the last is also the creator of BITCONF (Wladimir Crippa) and he has banned thousands of members who 'asked inappropriate questions' about the sponsors of this event, which is simply DISGUSTING.
THE USD PURCHASE POWER IN BRAZIL
I believe that the amount requested in this proposal is ABSURD and totally out of the Brazilian reality.
The dollar is EXTREMELY VALUED in Brazil at the moment. In fact, it's at its historic highs. In other words, USD purchase power has never been greater in Brazil than it is today. That means that with fewer dollars, you do a lot more. The amount requested here is ridiculously high and the results are extremely doubtful.
FYI, the minimum monthly salary in the country is something like 200 usd or 6.6 usd/day (30 days conversion) and the national average salary in 2019 was about 455 dollars or 15 usd daily (30 days converted).
So, using the average salary as base, if each of those 18 members (who are they, exactly?) work at the events, on average, 20 days a year (I very much doubt it!!) at the events, it would cost a total of no more than $ 5500 (18 members x 20 days x 15 usd / day). Help me understand why they are charging $ 80,000 for it. Why should these people be paid almost 15 (FIFTEEN!!!) times the average Brazilian salary??
COVID-19
Finally, as mentioned in other comments, the Corona virus outbreak will directly impact those events for at least the next 4 to 6 months. I believe that most of them will not even happen in 2020.
Despite my reservations, for a maximum amount of 25% of this current budget (up to 30,000.00 USD), and after the resolution of the coronavirus crisis, I would really CONSIDER voting in favor of this proposal. But in the structure presented today, thinking about the financial health and the long-term future of the DCR treasury and development, it's a big NO for me.
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