Who talks vs. who votes
Comparing the deliberative community (forum authors) with the voting community (on-chain voters) across the fee switch governance arc. Overlap between the two networks is the measure of how integrated deliberation and decision-making actually are.
Fee switch
All threads
By year
Forum authors
184
Unique wallets who posted
On-chain voters
214
Wallets who voted · Prop #44
In both networks
31
14.5% overlap · wallets who did both
Structural decoupling
85.5%
Of voters never posted in thread
F
Deliberative network
Top forum voices · ranked by influence
184 authors
Overlap
31
wallets
in both
● appears
in both
columns
V
Voting network
Top on-chain voters · ranked by UNI weight
214 voters
Network membership breakdown
Forum only — 153 wallets
Active in deliberation, absent from the binding vote. Their arguments shaped the discourse but carried no direct voting weight.
Unattributed wallets (62)
Voted only — 183 wallets
Voted on-chain but never engaged in forum deliberation. Their voting power determined the outcome without visible deliberative input.
Large passive token holders
Institutional funds (silent)
Unattributed wallets (97)
Forum influence vs. voting power: top 25 actors
Each dot = one wallet · x-axis = forum posts · y-axis = UNI voting power · colour = network membership · size = replies received
Forum posts (deliberative influence)
Voting power (UNI)
Primary finding
14.5%
Overlap between forum authors and on-chain voters. Deliberative and voting communities are structurally decoupled. Most deliberation happens outside the network that decides.
Deliberation without power
153
Wallets who argued in the forum but did not vote on-chain. Their deliberative participation had no direct formal weight in the outcome. Any influence was indirect.
Power without deliberation
183
Wallets who voted on-chain but never posted in the thread. Together they held the majority of voting power, yet were absent from the discourse that shaped the proposal.