[OSM-newbies] marking residential areas

[Tom Evans]

I've noticed there seems to be some inconsistency in whether 
landuse=residential areas are used in different areas, and wasn't sure 
what to do myself.  I'm near Cambridge and round here just the other 
landuses are applied.  Looking elsewhere, Isle of Wight seems to have 
them all marked, bits of London not (where I looked, anyway).  Is this a 
historical thing, or an ongoing issue of some kind?

What's the reasoning here?  And what do other people do?

Is there an assumption that the area immediately around a 
highway=residential road is residential, so they don't need to be marked 
with landuse too?

I'm having a slight practical problem in that, just surveying on the ground, 
I have to guess at the outline.  I know where the fronts of houses are but 
I've got to sketch the outer edge of a village by pure guesswork.  (don't 
have good Yahoo photos here)  Is this guessing better than nothing, or 
worse?

Is this just personal taste, and nobody really wants to start disagreeing 
with other mapmakers?

Would it be rude to go and add residential landuse areas to somewhere 
that somebody else has already otherwise mapped fully?

And why does osmarender mark residential areas so faintly that I can't 
even see it on some monitors?

Thanks,
Tom