It's been a while since I heard about Optimism but I became more interested only recently. Actually what motivated me is that I got some OP (Optimism tokens) from Publish0x - crypto blog platform where users can earn some crypto by writing and reading posts. That was a good idea that Publish0x switched to Optimism as currency for rewarding users. So I withdrew 4.94 OP (which is at the moment of writing $8.77) and this was enough for me to start using Optimism governance.
Optimism Agora is now in BETA, but at first glance, everything is working fine. https://vote.optimism.io/
The website says that: OP Delegates are the stewards of the Optimism Token House, appointed by token holders to make governance decisions on their behalf. So if you are just a token holder and don't plan to vote - you can delegate your OP and it will give the voting power to your delegate. If you want to become a Delegate yourself - you need to issue a "Delegate statement" and create your profile.
For example, you can check my profile:
https://vote.optimism.io/delegate/0x480a2e86B7fE63e4d3dfE71af781FfEb4a3c33B0
Instead of the account address, which is 0x480a2e86B7fE63e4d3dfE71af781FfEb4a3c33B0 in this example, there can be ENS domain name. That's probably even better for visibility.
But I used my account as it's my main Ethereum account which I also have on many other blockchains and I have had it for years. On the Ethereum blockchain I have lots of tokens, unfortunately, most of these tokens cost 0, and others only a few bucks. But I hope that this is OLD account gives my potential delegates some idea that the fact that I'm observing blockchain space for a long time might mean I will be a reasonable voter so they may delegate to me.
The delegation process is super simple, you just need to login to the site with your wallet (I used Metamask) and choose whom you will delegate. For example, if you want to vote for me, you can put my wallet address into the search section: "0x480a2e86B7fE63e4d3dfE71af781FfEb4a3c33B0" and you will find my profile.
Today there were 2 proposals for vote:
1 . Upgrade #2: Canyon Protocol Upgrade - I voted "Yes"
2 . Ratify Security Council Members - I voted "Abstain" and left my reasoning as "I abstain as at the moment I only started being a Delegate, and I would need more time to study each person. But for me it looks reasonable to vote every person separately be separate proposal"
That's good that while voting you can leave a text message, comment, and explain your opinion.
Of course, with such small voting power, my influence will be minimal (it still can be as I might write a comment which will influence other voters), that is why if you are my reader and if you hold Optimism (OP) - pleas consider delegating to me!