# Argument-0288: Retention at Rank III

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| **Report Date** | 2026/05/22                                                             |
| **Submitted by**| Oliver Tale-Yazdi                                                                        |

## Member details

- Matrix username: `@oliver.tale-yazdi:parity.io`
- Polkadot address: `16a357f5Sxab3V2ne4emGQvqJaCLeYpTMx3TCjnQhmJQ71DX`
- Current rank: `III (Fellow)`
- Date of initial induction: `2022/11/21`
- Date of last report: `2025/11/19`
- Area(s) of Expertise/Interest:
  - `the Polkadot business-logic (aka the 'runtime')`

## Reporting period

- Start date: 2026/06/11
- End date: 2026/12/11

## Argument

I argue to be worthy of rank III retention by proving fulfillment of the following requirements:

Manifesto 6.4 states:

>a Fellow indicates the individual has enough knowledge and skill to build substantial protocol
components (i.e. all but the major protocol components, e.g. a pallet or 2-10,000 line crate) alone
and with high expectations that they will be completed correctly and to a high standard.

I modernized the [recovery pallet](https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/pull/10482) as
preparation for a deployment on the Polkadot Hub. I believe that any value-bearing system should
have a recovery mechanism as a first-class citizen.

Further, I specced out the details of the [Honour
System](https://github.com/paritytech/individuality/pull/663) and laid the basis for its
implementation. I also helped with getting the necessary Host Functions for Ring-VRF batch
verification and Multi-I/O VRF support rolled out to validators. The active set validators adopted
these functions at a rate of 76.67% at the time of writing.  
Sadly, a last-minute discovery of a bug in the cryptography code rendered them unusable, but a fix
is in flight.

I am actively working on the [security fuzzing
initiative](https://github.com/polkadot-fellows/runtimes-fuzzer) of the Fellowship to discover
vulnerabilities earlier in our workflow. In the same vein, I supervise an external contributor to
deploy the [safe-mode pallets](https://github.com/polkadot-fellows/runtimes/pull/1164).

Manifesto 6.4 continues:
>They should be able and willing to support that which they built given that it is running 24/7 on a
public network. This means a commitment to availability even when it may be inconvenient for them
and, in periods of lesser-availability, taking on a responsibility to make this clear to their team
prior.

I helped with the recent emergency runtime releases, specifically with their implementation and
[deployment](https://x.com/seunlanlege/status/2024251449262133576).

Other noteworthy contributions of mine to the ecosystem:
- [dotless.xyz](https://dotless.xyz/) - issuance visualizer, featured by the official [Polkadot
  Twitter account](https://x.com/Polkadot/status/2032759086291292363).
- Demoted non-voting Fellowship members, in line with the Manifesto, to maintain a healthy referenda
  quorum.
- Passed the [first milestone](https://x.com/jam_brains/status/2057438851317067833) (M1) of the JAM
  conformance fuzzer with our JAM client.


## Voting record

|  Ranks | Activity thresholds | Agreement thresholds | Member's voting activities | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|III|70%   |100%  | ≥ 97%  | See [Subsquare](https://collectives.subsquare.io/user/16a357f5Sxab3V2ne4emGQvqJaCLeYpTMx3TCjnQhmJQ71DX/fellowship) |