[diversity-talk] Diversity for the tagging mailing list

[John Packer]

> I would encourage you to subscribe to the tagging list. I've been on it
> for some time.  The list has it hot topics which for some months, like this
> last December, generated a lot of traffic. Most months have a fair but not
> unmanageable amount of traffic.
>
I have been subscribed for the tagging mailing list for some months before
getting out (which was a relief).
Yes, it's not every month that it has high traffic, but it's frequently
enough for this to become a problem.


> Can you explain how moving to a forum would increase diversity?
>
I had a small related discussion previously, so I will quote some user
comments that I agree with from
http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/jgpacker/diary/28266#comments

> I'd think a forum would attract more people. More people = a wider view =
> better outcome. It also encourages more discussion. The only reason I'm on
> the talk [:he meant tagging:] list is to be aware of upcoming tag voting.
> Some of these fail due to lack of 'yes' votes .. I would like to see more
> people voting, even if they are not 'yes'. Some proposed tags fail to
> proceed to voting due to side issues eg tag for tap .. failing to proceed
> due to potability discussion. That may be more of a problem with a forum ..
> but can be deal with by making a new proposal (for taps .. new tag
> potability, and taps proceeds onwards).
> - Warin61
>

[..]You have to understand that for a lot of people this Internet stuff is
> not obvious. Formatting in the Wiki is a lot more complicated than in a
> Forum. Mailinglists are not as easy to understand as a Froum, even when
> they are Forum style and there is no edit button. Not to mention a lot of
> people check the Forum daily, any other place you make them look at will be
> less frequented.
> *The simple reality is if OpenStreetMap wants to integrate new useres,
> then mailinglists are not an option.*  [..]
> - AndiG88
>

Cheers,
John


2015-01-12 14:53 GMT-02:00 Clifford Snow <clifford at snowandsnow.us>:

>
> On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 8:37 AM, John Packer <john.packer7 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Due to the growth of the community, usually there is a high traffic of
>> emails of highly specific topics.
>> I believe these qualities of diversity of topics and large quantity of
>> messages are not a good fit with a mailing list, resulting in quite an
>> unpleasant experience for subscribers.
>> To worse the situation, it's hard if not impossible to comment in an
>> ongoing mail thread if you are not already subscribed to the mailing list
>> (i.e. people might not be able to comment in the few specific topics they
>> are actually interested in).
>>
>
> I would encourage you to subscribe to the tagging list. I've been on it
> for some time.  The list has it hot topics which for some months, like this
> last December, generated a lot of traffic. Most months have a fair but not
> unmanageable amount of traffic.
>
>>
>> The solution seems to be a move of the discussion of tag definition to a
>> forum platform, which would be a more appropriate place due to the
>> qualities described above.
>>
>
> Forms vs. mailing lists. Some people like one but not the other. Does
> anyone like them both? Ideally we would have the best of both on some new
> tool. But right now it seems to be one or the other. How about starting a
> tagging forum to see if gets traction. I'm not sure who has admin rights to
> create new forums, but the talk mailing list would be a good place to
> start. (And I get the irony of my suggestion.)
>
>>
>> I think this is important for increasing diversity in the tagging mailing
>> list, because few people can deal with a mailing list like that.
>> How can we do this?
>
>
> Can you explain how moving to a forum would increase diversity?
>
> Thanks,
> Clifford
>
> --
> @osm_seattle
> osm_seattle.snowandsnow.us
> OpenStreetMap: Maps with a human touch
>
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