Status: To be ratified at Eden Town Hall 76 Proposed to: Eden Plus Fractal Council Proposal Type: Scheduling
Summary
This is a draft proposal for Eden Fractal to take a 4-week break from events following the completion of the first half of Season 12. The last regularly scheduled event would be the 6th Respect Game on March 26, and the community would return for the second half of Eden Fractal's 12th season on April 30, 2026.
This means there would be 5 weeks between the last event (March 26) and the first event back (April 30), with 4 Thursdays off from events during the break period (April 2, April 9, April 16, and April 23). Vote YES if you approve this proposal to take a 4-week break from events and return for the second half of Eden Fractal's 12th season on April 30th.
Context
Eden Fractal Season 12 began on January 15, 2026. By March 26, the community will have completed 6 Respect Games and approximately 11 total weekly events (including Eden Town Halls) in the first half of the season.
Mid-season breaks have become an established part of the Eden Fractal rhythm with significant precedent. In August 2025, Eden Fractal took a 3-week mid-season break from events (our last event was on July 31st and we returned August 26, with 4 weeks between events). Optimism Fractal took a 7-week midseason break that same summer (its last event before the break was July 22nd and it returned September 4th).
This proposed midseason break is shorter than our most recent end-of-season break, which lasted approximately 8 weeks between the last event of Season 11 on November 19th and the first event of Season 12 on January 15th. This proposed 4-week break from events is slightly longer than the Eden Fractal August 2025 precedent, reflecting the value the community has found in these breaks and the current infrastructure needs during this phase of growth.
Tadas and I discussed the break planning for about half an hour during Eden Town Hall #74, which you can watch the full discussion here for more context. We also discussed the break during the first 25 minutes of Eden Town Hall #75, which you can watch here. Any feedback or thoughts are welcome.
Rationale
The spring break provides valuable space for both the Eden Fractal community and Eden Creators team. For the community, it provides a natural pause to reflect on the experiments and learnings from the first half of the season before coming back together to build on them. For the Eden Creators team, it offers focused time for infrastructure development and personal priorities. The following points outline the key reasons for taking a break at this time.
1. Infrastructure development and focused work: The Eden Creators team has a substantial volume of infrastructure work that is difficult to advance while simultaneously hosting, organizing, promoting, and producing weekly events. This includes organizational infrastructure development, AI-powered facilitation tools and automation, website improvements, documentation, and other foundational work that will strengthen the community's operations going forward. Having a dedicated block of time to focus on these priorities without the weekly event cycle has consistently proven to be useful, and the wider Eden Fractal community has benefited from the improvements made during previous breaks.
2. Rest, reflection, and personal planning: Consistent weekly event production is demanding for the organizing team, and having time for rest, relaxation, and personal matters (including health priorities) is important for long-term sustainability. Beyond rest, the break also provides valuable time for reflection and planning. Previous breaks have shown that this time for stepping back, assessing progress, and thinking strategically about the next phase leads to stronger seasons when the community reconvenes. These periods of reflection can be just as important as the active event periods for making progress on the mission.
3. Seasonal alignment and calendar positioning: The break naturally absorbs the Easter holiday on April 5, when some community members may be unavailable. It also positions the second half of Season 12 to conclude on July 9th, which sets up a natural transition to a summer break. If the community continues with a bi-weekly Respect Game schedule, this timing means the first half of Season 13 can be completed before the holiday season -- Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve all fall on Thursdays in 2026, making a winter break during that period practically essential. In short, taking this break now establishes a well-paced annual rhythm for the rest of the year.
The 4-week break provides ample time for infrastructure development, rest, and reflection, while keeping events frequent enough to maintain momentum for the community. It also gives us space to internalize the experiments we ran in the first half of Season 12 -- including the Synchronous Respect Trees games with contribution requests, explorations with Firmament, and our early work with spec-driven development -- while bringing us back together quickly enough to synthesize those learnings, put them into practice, continue using our community consensus processes, get feedback on new things we build, and focus on development work heading into the second half of the season.
What Happens During the Break
The break applies to the regularly scheduled weekly events (Respect Games and Eden Town Halls). However, community activity does not stop during the break:
- The Eden Fractal Telegram group remains available for ongoing discussion, coordination, and sharing throughout the break. Community members can share updates on their work, discuss ideas, and stay in touch.
- Ad hoc Eden Town Halls can be scheduled during the break if the community identifies a need for a discussion. Anyone can suggest this in the Telegram group, and the Eden+Fractal Council or the Eden Creators team can decide whether to organize one. The break from regularly scheduled events does not prevent special sessions from being held when needed.
- ORDAO Fractal can be scheduled on an ad hoc basis during the break for community members interested in discussing ORDAO-related topics, technical governance development, and related projects. ORDAO Fractal events can be scheduled by Tadas, or the ORDAO Fractal respect holders (according to the intent document of ORDAO Fractal).
- ZAO Fractal continues on its regular weekly schedule (Mondays at 6 PM EST) and is a great place for community members to play Respect Games and stay connected with fractal enthusiasts during the break. Zaal has been hosting weekly ZAO Fractal events for almost 2 years straight and it provides a great place to network with Web3 creators.
- Other fractal events across the ecosystem, including events organized by community members like Eric (hosting a nonprofit program), Swarthy (organizing IKYKY), Will (who recently created a KF Media ORDAO) and Gudasol (who is planning Longhorn Fractals), provide additional touch points for those who want to stay active in fractals.
- Anyone in the community is welcome to organize fractal events during the break, following the precedent set by the Fractal Impact Concert organized by EZ during the August 2025 break.
Looking Ahead
Upon returning on April 30, the community would resume the second half of Season 12 with 6 more Respect Games and continued weekly Town Halls. The Eden Fractal 4-year anniversary falls on June 8, which would occur during the second half of the season -- a natural opportunity for a celebration event.
The second half of Season 12 will also be a time to apply the learnings from the first half of the season, continue developing governance tools and processes through community collaboration, and work together on spec-driven development and other community initiatives. The season would conclude around early July.
If the community continues with a bi-weekly Respect Game schedule, this timing means the first half of Season 13 can be completed before the holiday season -- Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve all fall on Thursdays in 2026, making a winter break during that period practically essential.
Flexibility Clause
As discussed at the end of ETH 74, this proposal includes a flexibility provision: the Eden+Fractal Council retains the authority to adjust the return date through a council proposal and consensus process in the Eden Fractal Telegram group during the break period, if circumstances warrant an earlier or later return.
The return date serves as the definitive target to give the community clear expectations, but the council is not locked into it if conditions change. After discussing this approach with Tadas, it appears to be consistent with the Eden Plus Fractal process rules and provides helpful flexibility. Since we are navigating new territory with this mid-season scheduling, this ability to adapt during the break can prove useful.
I have also drafted a separate companion document that provides more context on how we might think about using this flexibility clause, including some considerations for why a longer break could make sense and how using the flexibility clause would work within the Eden+Fractal consensus process. This is not a separate proposal - it is simply additional context to help the community think about how we use this new governance tool.
Four versions:
- Version 1 (Recommended): The Eden+Fractal Council can adjust the April 30th return date during the break through a consensus proposal if circumstances warrant an earlier or later return.
- Version 2: While April 30th is the target return date, the council retains authority to modify it during the break period through their standard consensus process.
- Version 3: The April 30th return date can be changed by the Eden+Fractal Council during the break using a Telegram consensus process if needed.
- Version 4: The council has flexibility to adjust when Eden Fractal returns from break (currently April 30th) through a proposal and consensus process during the break period.
Recommendation: Version 1 is best because it clearly specifies the baseline return date (April 30th), names the decision-making body (Eden+Fractal Council), describes the process (consensus proposal), and indicates the direction of potential change (earlier or later), all in a straightforward structure.
Conclusion
I look forward to discussing this proposal at our upcoming events. The aim is to finalize and approve the proposal at Eden Town Hall 76 on March 12th, following the Eden Plus Fractal council consensus process. You can learn more about how the Eden Plus Fractal council process works here.
I am excited for the next steps and for what we will build together in the second half of Season 12 and beyond. Draft proposals for a 5-week break and 6-week break (returning May 7 or 14th) have also been prepared in case the council prefers a longer break. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!