+1<br>
<br>
Volker Schmidt<br>
Padova, Italy<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 18 January 2012 09:26, Frederik Ramm <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:frederik@remote.org">frederik@remote.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi,<br>
<br>
yesterday, there was a post on <a href="http://opengeodata.org" target="_blank">opengeodata.org</a> (not <a href="http://blog.osmfoundation.org" target="_blank">blog.osmfoundation.org</a>) titled "Google IP Vandalizing OpenStreetMap" (<a href="http://opengeodata.org/google-ip-vandalizing-openstreetmap" target="_blank">http://opengeodata.org/<u></u>google-ip-vandalizing-<u></u>openstreetmap</a>), and signed by (quote)<br>
<br>
Mikel Maron, OSMF board member, <a href="mailto:mikel@osmfoundation.org" target="_blank">mikel@osmfoundation.org</a><br>
Grant Slater, OSM Sysadmin, <a href="mailto:grant@osmfoundation.org" target="_blank">grant@osmfoundation.org</a><br>
Steve Coast, OSM Founder, <a href="mailto:chairman@osmfoundation.org" target="_blank">chairman@osmfoundation.org</a><br>
<br>
(end quote).<br>
<br>
The post doesn't directly accuse Google of corporate malevolence but is written in a way that could easily be interpreted as such, drawing a parallel to another recently publicized instance of alleged Google misbehaviour. The post is, to put it mildly, not an example of good diplomacy skills.<br>
<br>
In the comments section, our own Tom Hughes writes that he considers this post "grossly irresponsible and wholly inappropriate", a sentiment to which I feel compelled to agree, and that "The board of OSMF are making mountains out of tiny pimples here."<br>
<br>
Immediately afterwards, he later writes: "I am told that this posting was in fact made in a personal capacity and as such any suggestion on my part that it represents an official position of the OSMF board is incorrect and should be disregarded."<br>
<br>
I am happy to hear that this posting was not endorsed by OSMF. This is a good thing. But if even someone as involved with OSM as Tom misunderstands that - then how many people on the outside will now think badly of OSMF because of a post like that? If you read the P.S. then you get an idea of the kind of feedback this must have generated.<br>
<br>
I would like to suggest that, if any of our board members want to publish their personal opinion in the future, they use their personal e-mail addresses and not their <a href="http://osmfoundation.org" target="_blank">osmfoundation.org</a> function aliases. On <a href="http://opengeodata.org" target="_blank">opengeodata.org</a>, it is unusual to sign one's posts with name and e-mail at all, and *if* one chooses to sign with name and e-mail *then* uses one's @<a href="http://osmfoundation.org" target="_blank">osmfoundation.org</a> e-mail address, then any reader must assume that this is some kind of official OSMF statement.<br>
<br>
I think that, to avoid confusion, @<a href="http://osmfoundation.org" target="_blank">osmfoundation.org</a> e-mail addresses should only be used in OSMF business and not when signing private publications.<br>
<br>
Further, I would suggest that we immediately stop making any "official" postings to <a href="http://opengeodata.org" target="_blank">opengeodata.org</a>, to make it absolutely clear to the public that <a href="http://opengeodata.org" target="_blank">opengeodata.org</a> is a blog where anyone can publish their opinion of something without necessarily being endorsed by OSMF. For example, the blog recently carried posts like "We will go to Tokyo State of the Map 2012", or a call to participate in the OSMF fund raising drive; such posts create the impression that this was somehow an "official" news outlet rather than the private ramblings of a couple of geo geeks.<br>
<br>
To be clear: <a href="http://opengeodata.org" target="_blank">opengeodata.org</a> never claimed to be in any way official; it is just the nature of the posts appearing there that may make it look like it was official in the eye of an outsider.<br>
<br>
Bye<br>
Frederik<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><br>Volker SCHMIDT<br>Via Vecchia 18/ter<br>35127 Padova<br>Italy<br><br>mailto:<a href="mailto:voschix@gmail.com" target="_blank">voschix@gmail.com</a><br>office phone: +39-049-829-5977<br>
office fax +39-049-8700718<br>home phone: +39-049-851519<br>personal mobile: +39-340-1427105<br>skype: volker.schmidt<br><br><br><br>