Thanks for the feedback.
I think there was a massive demand for this, but we eroded our own user base with at times decisions that were not value-aligned, and by not really prioritizing what our user base was saying/shouting. But the mantra I’ve always heard is that we just needed to get through this: we were building Allo & GS for generations to come, and the road to full decentralization is painful. I got this, so I kept spreading this gospel, to our users and our ambassadors.
I think GS became a kickass product in the end. Easy to check out, across chains, across rounds, credibly neutral, built on a fully decentralized protocol. Giveth does not have this. Neither does Optimism or Protocol Guild.
It is not so much the money we spent I care about, I care about the users who built communities, and I care about the product they could as of now use without any centralized intervention. People could now fund what mattered to their community.
So I think we did this. But yes, we iterated too slowly. And the team was not always very lean or open to feedback, even to feedback from within, which I can state as a very active user of the platform myself (ao with Gitcoin Citizens).
I don’t think we missed the ‘market’. I think the market isn’t even there yet.
And wrt profit: building profit models for public goods is tough. It’s one of the reasons Gitcoin has and had its place in the grants ecosystem.
In any case, I hope at some point some project will pick this back up. That’s why I was hoping Gitcoin could at least pay for the hosting costs to keep it online, even if it was just as an artefact, for communities to link to what they did instead of getting a 404 (or a link to buidlbox 
).
It could be a starting point for what’s next, and an invite for future do-gooders to pick up the challenge while Gitcoin continues to build what you believe needs to be built next.
Seeing this made me really happy, so thanks Giveth & thanks @divine-comedian for keeping the dream alive. Maybe Gitcoin could fund Giveth to keep this live, as it seems Giveth is struggling to cover these costs?
In any case, it’s okay if you interpret this as ‘an ex gitcoiner venting some frustrations being held onto’ and it’s okay if your gut feeling is ‘help build solutions or gtfo’. I’ve seen these reactions, and I understand them. I’m always in awe of what you do and what Gitcoin continues to accomplish, so I will always be here to support, in some way.
So I’m taking the time to write it down anyway as a plea to maybe at some point to put GS (fully) online again, even if it’s just as a read-only version to inspire future builders.
We did a lot, and I’m personally proud of it.