I used to actually open governance votes and take a look, thinking “I’m participating too.” But later I realized that most of the time I’m just a like machine... Delegating is more convenient, but the more convenient it is, the more it feels like you’re stuffing your votes into the hands of a few big players to do the breathing for you. To put it plainly: governance tokens ultimately govern who? They govern retail users’ sense of participation—and, as a bonus, the project team’s KPIs.

Recently, that whole setup where the compounded returns from re-staking / shared security get stacked has been criticized as a “matryoshka doll” scheme. I can understand the criticism—wrap it layer by layer, and in the end who gets to decide? Voting power also gets concentrated layer by layer. These days, my habit is: if I can avoid delegating my vote, I won’t delegate. If I really have to delegate, I’ll pick people who often explain how they vote—at the very least, don’t treat me like I’m not there... Anyway, don’t expect me to blindly pledge my faith. If the community vibe is bad, I’ll just switch my PFP and go into a dull, gray mode.