The Down Of The Superumans - Why People Hate UMA Protocol?
Been six months since my dream of working in Web3 was shattered! After 3 years and a half of serving the UMA and Across community... I've been told my service is not longer needed... and not in a nice way!
This new community manager came and was the weakest one Risk Labs ever employed. She ruined in weeks what we built in years, closing down all activities, saying all my games ideas are silly and so on!
I am not fuding... i am venting! My whole world shattered in a two minutes call! Ridiculous way to appreciate loyalty and commitment! Life goes on but at least now I can answer to a question as old as time....
... why people hate UMA?
The negative vibe around UMA in the context of Polymarket disputes mostly comes from how truth is decided, not from people hating UMA as a project in general.
When people lose money because of wording debates, they often blame UMA, even if the real issue was the market design. People usually only learn how UMA works after they lose money in a dispute.
Polymarket uses UMA’s Optimistic Oracle to resolve disputes. That means when a market ends, someone proposes the outcome, and unless it’s challenge..., it’s accepted as true.
If it is challenged, UMA token holders vote on what the correct outcome is... and here is where the issues start! Market wordings, token weighting and misaligned incentive problems!
If the market wording is even slightly ambiguous, voters have to interpret intent, not just facts. When people lose money because of wording debates, they often blame UMA, even if the real issue was the market design.
Users expect prediction markets to be resolved by clear facts, but UMA disputes can feel subjective or political. If the market wording is even slightly ambiguous, voters have to interpret intent not just facts.
UMA voting is token-weighted. That means people with more UMA have more influence. To regular traders this can feel unfair... like a small group can decide outcomes that affect a lot of users who never touched UMA.
There’s also a misaligned incentive problem. UMA voters are incentivized to vote in a way that protects the oracle’s credibility and UMA’s long-term value, not necessarily what an angry trader thinks is morally or intuitively correct.
Sometimes the “technically correct” resolution feels wrong to users, especially in edge cases. However, you want to vote to win so slashing makes people think twice before voting!
If Polymarket lists a poorly worded market, and UMA later resolves a dispute strictly according to rules, users tend to say “UMA screwed us” rather than “this market should never have been listed.”
But to be honest... there are two whale wallets that can decide the votes and usually people will not vote against them. The fear of losing tokens by having a "wrong vote" is bigger than what's right!
Who remembers some controversial votes? The missing submarine or if the Ukraine's president was wearing a suit? Whatever man... people will remember only big wins or big losses!
Back to my personal story... I wanted to write a review of my 2025 voting, and share how much $UMA I've earned with the audience. However... I noticed that I couldn't find the tag when writing the tweet!
Lets ignore I prioritize both UMA and Across for over three years, instead of my health and free time ... Probably telling on X that I was treated poorly by the CM led to this! Just sharing the ... Truth that UMA says it supports no matter what! Freedom of speech is part of this!
In the end I am grateful to UMA's worst CM! Thanks for reminding me that my potential was kept at bay in that little bubble! Now I am flipping airdrops like changing socks!
And as the title suggests... this is the down of the superUMAns! No point to write about projects that treat people that bad. The product may be good but the community alignment matter more!
What's the point of building a community if you don't keep the members entertained? What is the point of having the tools if you don't educate and onboard new users?
At least I've done some stuff while serving the Across and UMA communities, reaching 74 articles on the Across the Cryptoverse series and 82 for the SuperUMAns gazette! The good old days!
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In the end, all the good deeds are punished. Right?
!BBH
All the dreams come to an end, bro!
!BBH
sad to hear all this.
!BBH
!BBH
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