The Web3 Foundation (W3F) publicly commits to transparency, openness, non-discrimination, and community empowerment. These principles are outlined in multiple official sources, including:

📌 “Web3 Foundation Manifesto”

• decentralized web ownership must be in the hands of its community
• no privileged actors
• equal access to opportunities and participation

📌 “Validator Community Development Objectives”

• fair and transparent selection
• technical meritocracy
• no cartels or favoritism

📌 Treasury & Ecosystem Growth Framework

• initiatives influencing Polkadot security must be accountable to governance

❗ Problem Statement

The current Decentralized Nodes (DN) Program operated by W3F shows:

1. Opacity in validator selection
   • No published scoring system
   • No rationale behind decisions
   • Visible favoritism - same entities recurrently selected

2. No guarantees for prior participants despite commitments
   • Validators are encouraged to invest in infrastructure, but selection is arbitrary
   • Creates financial risks, harms ecosystem trust

3. Direct conflict with Web3 ethos

A foundation cannot unilaterally run a system that critically affects network security while rejecting governance oversight.

Governance Competence

Any program that affects:

validator distribution

decentralization

security of the relay chain

access to block validation rewards

falls under OpenGov jurisdiction.

OpenGov is the ultimate governance authority in Polkadot.

Thus, W3F must:
✔ Report to governance
✔ Publicly justify selection mechanisms
✔ Provide due process for denied participants
✔ Disclose conflict-of-interest risks

✅ Requested actions via WFC

We request:

1. Auditable transparency report for DN Cohorts 1–3

2. Clear public selection criteria and scoring methodology

3. Guarantees of continuity for qualified validators

4. A pathway to integrate OpenGov oversight into future DN operations

This is not an attack on W3F

This is a defense of Polkadot’s founding principles.

P.S. I initiated an open discussion directly addressing these concerns:
👉 https://polkadot.subsquare.io/posts/427