The Problem
Most platforms are built by companies that extract value from their members. Content creators have no governance power. The rules can change at any time.
The people doing the work have no say in how it works. Decisions are made in closed rooms. You're a user, not a decision-maker.
Value flows to shareholders, not to contributors. You create the content. Someone else gets rich from it.
Our Alternative
Collusion Labs is a platform cooperative. Members govern the infrastructure they depend on. Revenue flows to contributors, not shareholders.
The people doing the work make the decisions about how it works. Governance participation is earned through sustained contribution.
Everyone can propose changes. Nobody is stuck at any level. You can move up the journey at your own pace. Or stay at one level forever — that's valid too.
How It Works
Cooperative membership through the journey
Discover → Practice → Witness → Publish → Teach. Each level deepens your relationship with the cooperative.
Authority comes from sustained contribution
Your standing must be continuously earned (Temporal Authority Decay). Recent practice matters more than old work. Standing fades if you stop showing up.
The Advocate: random selection, not appointment
When someone feels the rules produced an unfair result, they can request a fairness review. A randomly selected member (the Advocate) hears the case. No hierarchy of special judges.
Two governance modes
Normal operations: Slow, deliberative, relationship-building. Decisions require input from affected people.
Emergency response: Fast and decisive, but temporary. For genuine crises. Returns to normal operations when the crisis passes.
Revenue sharing with contributors
Money flows to the people doing the work. Supporting infrastructure cost is shared across the cooperative.
Decisions are made by those closest to the work
Each circle of practice decides how things work for their domain. No central authority dictates everything. Subsidiarity: decisions made locally whenever possible.
Recognition Through Witness
Authority isn't granted by bureaucratic process. You're known through relationships and witnessed work.
When you contribute something valuable, the people there can attest to it. "I was in that meeting. They solved this specific problem." That testimony becomes part of your track record.
The credibility of the witness affects the weight of the attestation. So reputation is distributed — you can't fake it through numbers or self-promotion.
Your Journey
Nobody starts at "full governance." You move through levels at your own pace:
- Discover: Browse published work. No account needed.
- Practice: Create your workshop. Private space to develop your voice.
- Witness: Hold space for others. Build reciprocal infrastructure.
- Publish: Share what you know. Build your portfolio from real practice.
- Teach: Help others walk the path. Participate in governance.
You can stop at any level. Not everyone wants to teach or govern. That's completely valid. The cooperative works because people show up at the level they're comfortable with.
Start Where You Are
The cooperative grows when people show up as themselves — not as employees, not as content, but as makers with actual practice.