Prevent reputation from decreasing below zero

forum-network/notes/rep.md

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+Reputation Tokens
+
+Minting
+
+Suppose it's possible to mint a reputation token.
+Say we have a contract that keeps track of all the reputation tokens.
+Suppose the reputation contract implements ERC720 (NFT).
+Assume a validation pool always corresponds to a post.
+A single token could be minted for each validation pool.
+That token could be subdivided so that each winning voter gets some.
+Perhaps voters get tokens that are specifically identifiable as governance reputation tokens.
+Then the main token can be awarded to the post author.
+Each token should carry a specific value.
+The forum will update the value of the token for the post author as well as posts affected by its chain of references.
+
+Then, when participants wish to stake reputation (for voting or for availability),
+they must specify the amount and the token address which carries that reputation.
+The token should probably then lock that reputation, preventing it from being staked concurrently for another purpose.
+
+Perhaps our interface can allow staking reputation from multiple tokens at the same time.
+And/or we can provide a mechanism for consolidating tokens.
+
+Or maybe, if reputation is staked via a given token, then the reputation awards should go to that same token.
+In that case, when should new tokens be minted?
+
+Maybe a token should be minted for each validation pool, but not subdivided.
+Voter rewards can just add value to the existing tokens from which reputation was staked.
+
+Maybe a new token should only be minted if the author did not provide a token from which to stake reputation on their own post.
+This supports the case of a new author earning their first reputation.
+In that case the author may need to pay a fee to buy in to the DAO.
+Or perhaps they can be sponsored by one or more existing reputation token holders.
+Existing reputation holders could grant some reputation to a new member.
+Perhaps there could be a contract that allows sponsoring a new member, such that whatever fee is given,
+that fee will automatically be repaid from the new member's earnings, before the new member starts receiving their share of earnings.
+This could be a multi-party action, or could just be a generic operation that can be performed multiple times.
+
+However, this effectively allows buying reputation, which goes against the core concept of reputation as evidence of performance.
+
+It could make more sense for new members to submit some sort of petition, i.e. to make a post.
+
+Maybe rather than submitting fees, existing members can grant some of their own reputation to a new member, and receive some sort of compensation if the new member does well.
+
+So far the only workable model seems to be the idea that a new member must submit a post along with a fee, in order to be considered, and if the post is approved, they gain their first reputation.
+The amount of this fee can be up to the applicant, and/or can be regulated by soft protocols within the DAO.
+
+If this is the only scenario in which new rep tokens are minted, and from then on their value is updated as a result of each validation pool,
+then we probably want each token to store information about the history of its value.
+At a minimum this can be a list where each item includes the identifier of the corresponding validation pool, and the resulting increment/decrement of token value.
+Each validation pool can then keep a record of the reputation staked by each voter, and the identifier of the corresponding post.

forum-network/src/classes/forum.js

@@ -83,44 +83,47 @@ export class Forum extends Actor {
 
     const post = this.getPost(postId);
     post.setStatus('Validated');
-    const rewards = await this.propagateValue(pool, post, initialValue);
+
+    // Compute rewards
+    const rewards = new Map();
+    await this.propagateValue(rewards, pool, post, initialValue);
     // Apply computed rewards
     for (const [id, value] of rewards) {
       bench.reputations.addTokens(id, value);
     }
   }
 
-  async propagateValue(fromActor, post, increment, depth = 0) {
+  async propagateValue(rewards, fromActor, post, increment, depth = 0) {
     if (params.referenceChainLimit >= 0 && depth > params.referenceChainLimit) {
       return [];
     }
 
     this.actions.propagateValue.log(fromActor, post, `(${increment})`);
 
-    // Apply leaching value
-    const adjustedIncrement = increment * (1 - params.leachingValue * post.totalCitationWeight);
-
-    const rewards = new Map();
-    const addReward = (id, value) => rewards.set(id, (rewards.get(id) ?? 0) + value);
-    const addRewards = (r) => {
-      for (const [id, value] of r) {
-        addReward(id, value);
-      }
-    };
-
-    // Increment the value of the post
-    await this.setPostValue(post, post.value + adjustedIncrement);
-
-    // Award reputation to post author
-    console.log(`reward for post author ${post.authorPublicKey}`, adjustedIncrement);
-    addReward(post.authorPublicKey, adjustedIncrement);
-
     // Recursively distribute reputation to citations, according to weights
+    let downstreamRefund = 0;
     for (const { postId: citedPostId, weight } of post.citations) {
       const citedPost = this.getPost(citedPostId);
-      addRewards(await this.propagateValue(post, citedPost, weight * increment, depth + 1));
+      downstreamRefund += await this.propagateValue(rewards, post, citedPost, weight * increment, depth + 1);
     }
 
-    return rewards;
+    // Apply leaching value
+    const adjustedIncrement = increment * (1 - params.leachingValue * post.totalCitationWeight) + downstreamRefund;
+
+    // Prevent value from decreasing below zero
+    const rawNewValue = post.value + adjustedIncrement;
+    const newValue = Math.max(0, rawNewValue);
+    const upstreamRefund = rawNewValue < 0 ? rawNewValue : 0;
+    const appliedIncrement = newValue - post.value;
+
+    // Increment the value of the post
+    await this.setPostValue(post, newValue);
+
+    // Award reputation to post author
+    console.log(`reward for post author ${post.authorPublicKey}`, appliedIncrement);
+
+    rewards.set(post.authorPublicKey, appliedIncrement);
+
+    return upstreamRefund;
   }
 }

forum-network/src/classes/validation-pool.js

@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ export class ValidationPool extends Actor {
     const tokensForWinners = getTotalStaked(!votePasses);
     const winningVotes = this.listVotes(({ position, isSystemVote }) => position === votePasses && !isSystemVote);
 
-    // Reward the winning voters, in proportion to their stakes
+    // Compute rewards for the winning voters, in proportion to their stakes
     const rewards = new Map();
     for (const [signingPublicKey, { stake }] of winningVotes) {
       const { reputationPublicKey } = this.voters.get(signingPublicKey);
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ export class ValidationPool extends Actor {
     }
 
     const authorReputationPublicKey = this.voters.get(this.authorSigningPublicKey).reputationPublicKey;
+
     // Distribute awards to voters other than the author
     for (const [id, value] of rewards) {
       if (id !== authorReputationPublicKey) {
@@ -241,6 +242,8 @@ export class ValidationPool extends Actor {
       }
     }
 
+    // TODO: revoke staked reputation from losing voters
+
     if (votePasses) {
       // Distribute awards to author via the forum
       const tokensForAuthor = this.tokensMinted * params.stakeForAuthor + rewards.get(authorReputationPublicKey);

forum-network/src/index.html

@@ -5,15 +5,22 @@
 </head>
 <body>
   <h2>Tests</h2>
+  <h3>Primary</h3>
+  <ul>
+    <li><a href="/tests/validation-pool.html">Validation Pool</a></li>
+    <li><a href="/tests/availability.html">Availability + Business</a></li>
+    <li><a href="/tests/forum.html">Forum</a></li>
+  </ul>
+  <h3>Secondary</h3>
+  <ul>
+    <li><a href="/tests/forum-network.html">Forum Network</a></li>
+  </ul>
+  <h3>Tertiary</h3>
   <ul>
     <li><a href="/tests/basic.html">Basic</a></li>
-    <li><a href="/tests/forum-network.html">Forum Network</a></li>
-    <li><a href="/tests/graph.html">Graph</a></li>
-    <li><a href="/tests/validation-pool.html">Validation Pool</a></li>
     <li><a href="/tests/mermaid.html">Mermaid</a></li>
+    <li><a href="/tests/graph.html">Graph</a></li>
     <li><a href="/tests/debounce.html">Debounce</a></li>
-    <li><a href="/tests/availability.html">Availability</a></li>
-    <li><a href="/tests/forum.html">Forum</a></li>
     <li><a href="/tests/flowchart.html">Flowchart</a></li>
   </ul>
 </body>

forum-network/src/params.js

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ const params = {
   /* Forum parameters */
   initialPostValue: () => 1, // q1
   revaluationLimit: 1, // q2
-  maxPropagationDepth: 3, // q3
+  referenceChainLimit: 3, // q3
   leachingValue: 1, // q4
 };
 

forum-network/src/tests/forum.html

@@ -122,9 +122,9 @@
     forum,
     new PostContent({ hello: "y'all" })
       .setTitle("Post 3")
-      .addCitation(postId2, 0.5),
+      .addCitation(postId2, -0.5),
     {
-      fee: 10,
+      fee: 100,
       duration: 1000,
       tokenLossRatio: 1,
     }