Layer 3: Power and Credits

What this means

This is the heart of OLN's governance economy. It answers three linked questions:

• How does contribution translate into influence?
• How is that influence bounded so no one dominates?
• How does the system stay responsive to current contributors rather than calcifying around founders?

The short version: contributors earn Credits for the work they do. Credits convert to Power, which is how governance votes are weighted. But Power doesn't scale linearly — it flattens as you accumulate more, meaning the biggest contributors can't run away with control. Power also decays if you stop contributing, meaning influence stays tied to active participation. And there's a hard ceiling no one can exceed, including the Creator.

This is designed against two failure modes: oligarchy (a few large contributors dominate forever) and gerontocracy (long-ago contributors still control the platform years after they stopped caring). The mechanisms in this Layer address both.

Formal Text

Article I: Definitions

Credits are the unit of measure for contribution. They are earned through verified contribution per Layer 7 (the Contribution Rubric). Credits are stored in the ledger, tied to the contributing account, and exist in two subtypes:

• Commons Credits — earned for contributions to collective Franchise or Network work
• Home Credits — earned for impact on personally-owned Creator Home content

Power is the weighted measure of governance influence, computed from Credits via the Power Curve defined in Article III.

Kudos is the mechanism by which a contributor transfers Credits from their account to another contributor's account as recognition of value. Kudos transfers are subject to the caps in Article VI.

Article II: Credit Accumulation

2.1 Base Credits. Awarded for the work itself at the time of contribution, reflecting labor, craft, and completeness. Base values are set by the Network Rubric and tunable by Franchise weights (Layer 7).

2.2 Impact Credits. Awarded over time based on measurable downstream value: traffic, citations, retention, derivative works, prevented incidents (for moderation), sustained usage (for tools). Impact accrual has no sunset — foundational contributions continue to generate Impact Credits as long as their effects persist.

2.3 Credit segregation. Commons Credits and Home Credits are tracked separately but convert to Power through the same curve. Commons Credits are eligible for Team membership; Home Credits are not.

2.4 Provisional Credits. All Credits are initially provisional upon contribution. They lock in after the peer review window (30 days) unless flagged for review or dispute. Provisional Credits count toward Power immediately but can be adjusted during the review period.

Article III: The Power Curve

Credits convert to Power via a three-segment curve:

• Linear segment (0 to T₁): Power = Credits. Small contributors are not penalized; their influence scales directly with their work.

• Diminishing returns segment (T₁ to T₂): Power = T₁ + (Credits − T₁)^0.7 × 3.5. Above T₁, each additional Credit produces less Power than the last.

• Asymptotic segment (above T₂): Power approaches the contributor's role ceiling but does not exceed it.

Default thresholds (amendable per Layer 1 Article II):

• T₁ = 1,000 Credits
• T₂ = 10,000 Credits

At T₁ (1,000 Credits), Power = 1,000. At T₂ (10,000 Credits), Power ≈ 3,468 (before ceiling application). At 100,000 Credits, Power would be ≈ 8,700 from the curve (before ceiling).

Article IV: Role-Gated Ceilings

Maximum Power is gated by role. Role progression requires earning the role through contribution.

Role	Power Ceiling
Contributor below Team threshold	1,000
Home-only contributor (no Commons contributions)	2,500
Single-Franchise Team member	3,500
Multi-Franchise Team member	3,500 + 1,000 per additional Franchise, capped at 7,500
Network-level Contributor role	+2,500 on top of Franchise role
Council seat (duration of term)	+1,500
Arbiter seat	No Power bonus

Absolute ceiling: No contributor's Power may exceed 12,000, regardless of role combinations or Credit accumulation. This is an entrenched value.

Home-only transition: A contributor with 500+ Commons Credits in any Franchise is no longer classified as Home-only and moves to the standard ceiling progression.

Article V: Decay

5.1 Grace period. 90 days of inactivity before decay begins. Any new contribution resets the clock.

5.2 Decay rate. After grace, Power decays at 5% per quarter, compounding.

5.3 Floor. Power cannot decay below 10% of the contributor's lifetime peak Power. This preserves Emeritus recognition (see Layer 13).

5.4 Reactivation boost. A contributor returning from 90+ days of inactivity accrues new Credits at 1.5× normal rate for the first 90 days back.

5.5 Founding Grant Credits are exempt from decay. See Layer 12. Creator Credits and all other earned Credits are subject to decay.

Article VI: Kudos

6.1 Eligibility. Any contributor with Credits may Kudos Credits to another contributor.

6.2 Cap — percentage. No contributor may Kudos more than 5% of their current Credit balance in any rolling 30-day period.

6.3 Cap — absolute. No contributor may Kudos more than 5,000 Credits (equal to 2× the default Team threshold) in any rolling 30-day period. This ceiling constrains disproportionately-Credited accounts even when the percentage cap would allow more.

6.4 Lock-up. Credits received via Kudos cannot be re-Kudosed to a third party for 90 days. This prevents Credit laundering.

6.5 Founding Grants. Founding Grant Credits (Layer 12) cannot be Kudosed.

6.6 Transparency. All Kudos transactions are public ledger entries, with optional notes explaining the recognition.

Article VII: Governance Scope

7.1 Voting. Power determines vote weight on all Network and Franchise governance questions, except the founding ratification vote (Layer 6), which is one-account-one-vote.

7.2 Abstention. Contributors may abstain on any vote without penalty. Abstention does not affect Power.

7.3 Delegation. Contributors may delegate their Power to any Team member in any Franchise where that Team member holds a seat, for the purposes of Council and Network routine governance. Delegation is revocable at any time and must be public ledger. Constitutional amendments cannot be decided by delegation — they require direct vote.

7.4 Council representation. Routine Network governance operates through the Council, composed of Franchise Team delegates with seats allocated proportional to Franchise Power. Direct Network voting is retained for Constitutional amendments and major Network-level decisions.

Article VIII: Ledger and Audit

8.1 All Credit awards, adjustments, Kudos, and decay events are recorded in the public ledger.

8.2 The ledger is immutable going backward — past events cannot be edited or deleted. Corrections are made by new ledger entries that reference the original.

8.3 Any contributor may audit any other contributor's public ledger. Home content revenue is subject to the Creator's privacy preferences; the existence of Home Credits is public, specific amounts may be private.

8.4 The Network publishes a monthly health report showing total Power distribution, decay patterns, Kudos flow, and anti-gaming detection summaries.