[Local-chapters] Arbitration of conflicts

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 10:00 AM, Serge Wroclawski <emacsen at gmail.com> wrote:
> At the US Protochapter call last night, one issue that arose was that
> of edit conflicts.
>
> For example, if there is an edit which is deemed by some parties to be
> right and others to be wrong, who will make that final decision?
>
> I've been asked to propose that LCs be given a role to play in this if
> the area of dispute is in their territory.

This makes sense if the LCs can reduce the arbitration-load on the Foundation.

> They'd like to be able to "freeze" or "lock" an area for edits and
> since I'm informally representing the interests of the US
> Proto-chapter, I've been asked to discuss it.
>
> So this leads us to a number of questions:
>
> 1) Is there a formal procedure for edit wars now? The procedure I've
> seen thusfar appears informal from the outside.

Well, informal and friendly is better than rigid and hostile.  The
guidelines seem reasonable and the flexibility is a feature.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Disputes

> 2) If there is a formal procedure- does some sort of agreement with
> the LCs in this area make sense?

I'd think that the LC would really add value if it is willing to take
on the responsibility for dispute resolution and vandalism reversion
in the local area.  How to assign this work to the volunteers of the
LC committee may be a challenge.

> 3) Does the technology exist to "lock" an area from edits at this time?
>
> 4) If the area is in legal dispute, how would this be resolved?
>
> I'll give an older example (in hopes that it won't inflame any arguments)...
>
> My family name is Wroclawski. That's derived from the Polish city of Wroclaw.
>
> There are times in history when this city was controlled by Germany
> and then named Breslau.
>
> If there was a dispute about who controlled the region, the LCs might
> not be able to resolve it- and so then who would be the body for the
> dispute to go to?

"Sign on the ground" would guide you as to default values like name=.
multi-language support for say, name:pirate and name:klingon already
exist.  I've seen talk of historic names.