maint: primary README cleanup (#10817)

Just some regular README cleanup. Nothing huge here, a few tweaks
to make things flow smoothly.

README.md

@@ -28,35 +28,31 @@
 
 ## What is Optimism?
 
-[Optimism](https://www.optimism.io/) is a project dedicated to scaling Ethereum's technology and expanding its ability to coordinate people from across the world to build effective decentralized economies and governance systems. The [Optimism Collective](https://app.optimism.io/announcement) builds open-source software for running L2 blockchains and aims to address key governance and economic challenges in the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem. Optimism operates on the principle of **impact=profit**, the idea that individuals who positively impact the Collective should be proportionally rewarded with profit. **Change the incentives and you change the world.**
+[Optimism](https://www.optimism.io/) is a project dedicated to scaling Ethereum's technology and expanding its ability to coordinate people from across the world to build effective decentralized economies and governance systems. The [Optimism Collective](https://www.optimism.io/vision) builds open-source software that powers scalable blockchains and aims to address key governance and economic challenges in the wider Ethereum ecosystem. Optimism operates on the principle of **impact=profit**, the idea that individuals who positively impact the Collective should be proportionally rewarded with profit. **Change the incentives and you change the world.**
 
-In this repository, you'll find numerous core components of the OP Stack, the decentralized software stack maintained by the Optimism Collective that powers Optimism and forms the backbone of blockchains like [OP Mainnet](https://explorer.optimism.io/) and [Base](https://base.org). Designed to be "aggressively open source," the OP Stack encourages you to explore, modify, extend, and test the code as needed. Although not all elements of the OP Stack are contained here, many of its essential components can be found within this repository. By collaborating on free, open software and shared standards, the Optimism Collective aims to prevent siloed software development and rapidly accelerate the development of the Ethereum ecosystem. Come contribute, build the future, and redefine power, together.
+In this repository you'll find numerous core components of the OP Stack, the decentralized software stack maintained by the Optimism Collective that powers Optimism and forms the backbone of blockchains like [OP Mainnet](https://explorer.optimism.io/) and [Base](https://base.org). The OP Stack is designed to be aggressively open-source — you are welcome to explore, modify, and extend this code.
 
 ## Documentation
 
 - If you want to build on top of OP Mainnet, refer to the [Optimism Documentation](https://docs.optimism.io)
-- If you want to build your own OP Stack based blockchain, refer to the [OP Stack Guide](https://docs.optimism.io/stack/getting-started), and make sure to understand this repository's [Development and Release Process](#development-and-release-process)
+- If you want to build your own OP Stack based blockchain, refer to the [OP Stack Guide](https://docs.optimism.io/stack/getting-started) and make sure to understand this repository's [Development and Release Process](#development-and-release-process)
 
 ## Specification
 
-If you're interested in the technical details of how Optimism works, refer to the [Optimism Protocol Specification](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/specs).
+Detailed specifications for the OP Stack can be found within the [OP Stack Specs](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/specs) repository.
 
-## Community
+## Contributing
 
-General discussion happens most frequently on the [Optimism discord](https://discord.gg/optimism).
-Governance discussion can also be found on the [Optimism Governance Forum](https://gov.optimism.io/).
+The OP Stack is a collaborative project. By collaborating on free, open software and shared standards, the Optimism Collective aims to prevent siloed software development and rapidly accelerate the development of the Ethereum ecosystem. Come contribute, build the future, and redefine power, together.
 
-## Contributing
+[CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md) contains a detailed explanation of the contributing process for this repository. Make sure to use the [Developer Quick Start](./CONTRIBUTING.md#development-quick-start) to properly set up your development environment.
 
-Read through [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md) for a general overview of the contributing process for this repository.
-Use the [Developer Quick Start](./CONTRIBUTING.md#development-quick-start) to get your development environment set up to start working on the Optimism Monorepo.
-Then check out the list of [Good First Issues](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism/issues?q=is:open+is:issue+label:D-good-first-issue) to find something fun to work on!
-Typo fixes are welcome; however, please create a single commit with all of the typo fixes & batch as many fixes together in a PR as possible. Spammy PRs will be closed.
+[Good First Issues](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism/issues?q=is:open+is:issue+label:D-good-first-issue) are a great place to look for tasks to tackle if you're not sure where to start.
 
 ## Security Policy and Vulnerability Reporting
 
 Please refer to the canonical [Security Policy](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/.github/blob/master/SECURITY.md) document for detailed information about how to report vulnerabilities in this codebase.
-Bounty hunters are encouraged to check out [the Optimism Immunefi bug bounty program](https://immunefi.com/bounty/optimism/).
+Bounty hunters are encouraged to check out the [Optimism Immunefi bug bounty program](https://immunefi.com/bounty/optimism/).
 The Optimism Immunefi program offers up to $2,000,042 for in-scope critical vulnerabilities.
 
 ## Directory Structure
@@ -80,8 +76,8 @@ The Optimism Immunefi program offers up to $2,000,042 for in-scope critical vuln
 ├── <a href="./ops-bedrock">ops-bedrock</a>: Bedrock devnet work
 ├── <a href="./packages">packages</a>
 │   ├── <a href="./packages/chain-mon">chain-mon</a>: Chain monitoring services
-│   ├── <a href="./packages/contracts-bedrock">contracts-bedrock</a>: Bedrock smart contracts
-│   ├── <a href="./packages/sdk">sdk</a>: provides a set of tools for interacting with Optimism
+│   ├── <a href="./packages/contracts-bedrock">contracts-bedrock</a>: OP Stack smart contracts
+│   ├── <a href="./packages/devnet-tasks">devnet-tasks</a>: Legacy Hardhat tasks used within devnet CI tests
 ├── <a href="./proxyd">proxyd</a>: Configurable RPC request router and proxy
 ├── <a href="./specs">specs</a>: Specs of the rollup starting at the Bedrock upgrade
 </pre>
@@ -90,7 +86,7 @@ The Optimism Immunefi program offers up to $2,000,042 for in-scope critical vuln
 
 ### Overview
 
-Please read this section if you're planning to fork this repository, or make frequent PRs into this repository.
+Please read this section carefully if you're planning to fork or make frequent PRs into this repository.
 
 ### Production Releases
 
@@ -99,11 +95,11 @@ For example, an `op-node` release might be versioned as `op-node/v1.1.2`, and  s
 Release candidates are versioned in the format `op-node/v1.1.2-rc.1`.
 We always start with `rc.1` rather than `rc`.
 
-For contract releases, refer to the GitHub release notes for a given release, which will list the specific contracts being released—not all contracts are considered production ready within a release, and many are under active development.
+For contract releases, refer to the GitHub release notes for a given release which will list the specific contracts being released. Not all contracts are considered production ready within a release and many are under active development.
 
 Tags of the form `v<semver>`, such as `v1.1.4`, indicate releases of all Go code only, and **DO NOT** include smart contracts.
 This naming scheme is required by Golang.
-In the above list, this means these `v<semver` releases contain all `op-*` components, and exclude all `contracts-*` components.
+In the above list, this means these `v<semver` releases contain all `op-*` components and exclude all `contracts-*` components.
 
 `op-geth` embeds upstream geth’s version inside it’s own version as follows: `vMAJOR.GETH_MAJOR GETH_MINOR GETH_PATCH.PATCH`.
 Basically, geth’s version is our minor version.
@@ -112,6 +108,7 @@ Note that we pad out to three characters for the geth minor version and two char
 Since we cannot left-pad with zeroes, the geth major version is not padded.
 
 See the [Node Software Releases](https://docs.optimism.io/builders/node-operators/releases) page of the documentation for more information about releases for the latest node components.
+
 The full set of components that have releases are:
 
 - `chain-mon`