😄

Problem statements by Madhuri

Statement 1

I am a visible South Asian female politician

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to express my political views online and spark meaningful debate on important issues as is required in my role

[accomplish an important goal]

But I regularly receive xenophobic messages telling me to "go back to my country" whenever I post political content can’t express my views online safely and sometimes feel burnt out from engaging in a very necessary part of my job.

[I have this problem]

Because platforms lack effective tools to filter this type of targeted harassment that appears "neutral" on the surface but is clearly racist when viewed in context I face abuse from people I don’t know in the form of racism, sexism and death threats. 

[root cause]

Which makes me feel angry and gaslit.

[emotional effect]

Statement 2

I am a Web3 community manager

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to resolve a sensitive conflict between a male member and a trans-female member of my community

[accomplish an important goal]

But I struggle to facilitate productive dialogue around sensitive identity issues 

[I have this problem]

Because I lack tools to understand the diverse perspectives, language boundaries, and comfort zones that exist within my global community am not an expert in culture-related conflict resolution. we don’t have agreement in our community around what’s sensitive and what’s not.

[root cause]

Which makes me feel overwhelmed and worried about unintentionally causing more harm while trying to resolve conflicts

[emotional effect]

Statement 3

I am a Crypto leftists community moderator

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to moderate my very politically-charged community organically whilst facilitating meaningful ideological debate.

[accomplish an important goal]

But I struggle to differentiate between legitimate ideological disagreements and genuinely harmful content.

[I have this problem]

Because the community is made up of people from diverse cultural, linguistic, and political backgrounds who express themselves differently. knowing what is acceptable to one person and not another is complex and shifts with socio-political context.

[root cause]

Which makes me feel constantly anxious about either stifling important conversations or allowing truly harmful content to spread.

[emotional effect]

Statement 4 - if problem and root cause are the same (even if goal is different, these are too similar to the other problem statement)

I am a female DAO contributor passionate about bringing more diversity into the space. 

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to be more of an influencer or thought leader about navigating web 3 as a female in order to show others like me that the struggle is real but it can also be empowering and so they shouldn’t exclude themselves (on top of the system being exclusionary).

keep my community running smoothly

[accomplish an important goal] - the highest level of abstraction

But when I’ve shared my opinions on diversity in the past, I have I can’t post my DEI related opinions without receiving horrible messages that I have to spend emotional and mental energy dealing with. and self-censoring on days/weeks/months when I don’t want to deal with them.

but verbal or coordinated attacks happen very fast.

[I have this problem]

Because short of death threats, toxic masculinity is much more normalised in online spaces existing moderators don’t identify toxic masculinity as harmful, which means there isn’t any support for this experience. I have to take time for myself and my mental health.

making it difficult or impossible for moderators to catch. 

[root cause] - lowest level of abstraction

Which makes me feel nervous about being visible in Discord servers and TG groups and drained by interacting with my community online.

[emotional effect]

Statement 5

I am a senior blockchain architect at Arbitrum who's deeply committed to decentralised governance and censorship resistance.

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to build truly decentralised communities where open discourse can flourish without the gatekeeping issues of traditional centralised platforms.

[accomplish an important goal]

But I struggle to manage toxic behaviour in our forums and chat channels in a way that aligns with decentralised ethos - i.e. where the boundaries of ‘toxicity’ aren’t defined by one person in charge.

[I have this problem]

Because the web3 space lacks governance frameworks that can effectively balance community autonomy with protection against harmful content.

[root cause]

Which makes me feel frustrated that spaces built on decentralisation principles often become either chaotic environments where harassment flourishes or end up adopting the same centralised control mechanisms we're trying to move away from.

[emotional effect]

Problem statements by Madhuri

Statement 1

I am a visible South Asian female politician

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to express my political views online and spark meaningful debate on important issues as is required in my role

[accomplish an important goal]

But I regularly receive xenophobic messages telling me to "go back to my country" whenever I post political content can’t express my views online safely and sometimes feel burnt out from engaging in a very necessary part of my job.

[I have this problem]

Because platforms lack effective tools to filter this type of targeted harassment that appears "neutral" on the surface but is clearly racist when viewed in context I face abuse from people I don’t know in the form of racism, sexism and death threats. 

[root cause]

Which makes me feel angry and gaslit.

[emotional effect]

Statement 2

I am a Web3 community manager

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to resolve a sensitive conflict between a male member and a trans-female member of my community

[accomplish an important goal]

But I struggle to facilitate productive dialogue around sensitive identity issues 

[I have this problem]

Because I lack tools to understand the diverse perspectives, language boundaries, and comfort zones that exist within my global community am not an expert in culture-related conflict resolution. we don’t have agreement in our community around what’s sensitive and what’s not.

[root cause]

Which makes me feel overwhelmed and worried about unintentionally causing more harm while trying to resolve conflicts

[emotional effect]

Statement 3

I am a Crypto leftists community moderator

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to moderate my very politically-charged community organically whilst facilitating meaningful ideological debate.

[accomplish an important goal]

But I struggle to differentiate between legitimate ideological disagreements and genuinely harmful content.

[I have this problem]

Because the community is made up of people from diverse cultural, linguistic, and political backgrounds who express themselves differently. knowing what is acceptable to one person and not another is complex and shifts with socio-political context.

[root cause]

Which makes me feel constantly anxious about either stifling important conversations or allowing truly harmful content to spread.

[emotional effect]

Statement 4 - if problem and root cause are the same (even if goal is different, these are too similar to the other problem statement)

I am a female DAO contributor passionate about bringing more diversity into the space. 

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to be more of an influencer or thought leader about navigating web 3 as a female in order to show others like me that the struggle is real but it can also be empowering and so they shouldn’t exclude themselves (on top of the system being exclusionary).

keep my community running smoothly

[accomplish an important goal] - the highest level of abstraction

But when I’ve shared my opinions on diversity in the past, I have I can’t post my DEI related opinions without receiving horrible messages that I have to spend emotional and mental energy dealing with. and self-censoring on days/weeks/months when I don’t want to deal with them.

but verbal or coordinated attacks happen very fast.

[I have this problem]

Because short of death threats, toxic masculinity is much more normalised in online spaces existing moderators don’t identify toxic masculinity as harmful, which means there isn’t any support for this experience. I have to take time for myself and my mental health.

making it difficult or impossible for moderators to catch. 

[root cause] - lowest level of abstraction

Which makes me feel nervous about being visible in Discord servers and TG groups and drained by interacting with my community online.

[emotional effect]

Statement 5

I am a senior blockchain architect at Arbitrum who's deeply committed to decentralised governance and censorship resistance.

[a unique person with my context]

I am trying to build truly decentralised communities where open discourse can flourish without the gatekeeping issues of traditional centralised platforms.

[accomplish an important goal]

But I struggle to manage toxic behaviour in our forums and chat channels in a way that aligns with decentralised ethos - i.e. where the boundaries of ‘toxicity’ aren’t defined by one person in charge.

[I have this problem]

Because the web3 space lacks governance frameworks that can effectively balance community autonomy with protection against harmful content.

[root cause]

Which makes me feel frustrated that spaces built on decentralisation principles often become either chaotic environments where harassment flourishes or end up adopting the same centralised control mechanisms we're trying to move away from.

[emotional effect]