[Legal-general] [OSM-legal-talk] A really quick poll

[Joseph Gentle]

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 10:28 PM, Peter Miller <peter.miller at itoworld.com> wrote:
>
> Fyi, here is a copy of a post made to legal-talk this morning which I
> believe belongs more appropriately on this list. (it is an informal poll
> relating to the PD/SA debate from Joseph).
>
> For the record my comments are:
>
> 1) Can you introduce the poll more clearly in the eail. I initially thought
> it was spam and was taking me to some dodgy site, so do mention OSM in your
> text and the reason of the poll.

I want as many people to fill it out as possible. A long email would
have discouraged that.

> 2) The wording needs work to avoid it appearing to be partisan.

The wording was discussed about a week ago in the legal-talk mailing
list in a thread entitled "Making OSM public domain".

The PD line was written by me, the SA line was written by an SA advocate.

> 3) The method of conducting to poll should be open and verifiable. Why not
> do it using an OSM wiki page where people can sign up visibly and we can
> ensure that no double-voting is occurring.

You can do that? Fantastic!

I didn't think the wiki has the scripting / poll capability. I asked
in the aforementioned thread if anyone knew an easy way to make polls
on the OSM website but no-one replied. It sure was a pain in the arse
to get that little poll working. Maybe next time we can do better.

> 4) I think a 'soap box' wiki page might be useful where people can advocate
> for their position.

I agree... but, I've also lost track of what wiki pages exist
regarding licensing stuff.

> 5) Is this the right time for a vote? Should we not wait until the two
> stories have been developed a little more and the SA mob have the next draft
> of the licence available?

A vote? Its not a vote, its just a poll.

I want data on what the actual community thinks about the licensing
issue. Maybe the PD people already outnumber the SA people - we won't
know without any data! Measuring support for issues based on which
side has the most enthusiastic proponents isn't a great way to make
decisions.

As for the SA licensing draft, I don't think giving the SA mob time
for another draft will change anyone's mind.

According to the poll, 40% of the community likes PD and 56% like SA.
I expect most people won't have read up on the issues involved - such
is to be expected of true democracies.

> Overall, I think this is a good idea, but it needs to be approached more
> carefully and inclusively for it to have value.

I'm sorry I didn't bump it on this list first. Its got such low
traffic I almost forgot this list existed - I guess I'm exacerbating
that problem.

-J

> Peter