[Osmf-talk] Calm down, dear

Mark Iliffe mark at markiliffe.co.uk
Wed Mar 21 19:55:24 UTC 2012


+1000

Mark

On 21 Mar 2012, at 14:35, deb <deb at dtold.com> wrote:

> Awesome analogy! :)
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Deb Tankersley
> 
> 
> On Mar 21, 2012, at 7:10 AM, "Richard Fairhurst" <richard at systemeD.net> wrote:
> 
>> In the UK there's a really annoying TV advert in which Michael Winner
>> (past-it film director and restaurant critic) urges "Calm down, dear. It's
>> only a commercial". You can find it on YouTube if you want. Our beloved
>> (ahem) Prime Minister used the phrase to slap down a critic in the House
>> of Commons and was rightly panned for it.
>> 
>> So I realise I'll probably be panned for saying the same, but:
>> 
>> Calm down, dear. It's only a free map of the world.
>> 
>> The amount of drama (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=drama)
>> in OSM at the moment is quite bewildering. It's almost as if we've decided
>> to stop being "Wikipedia for maps" and start being "Encyclopaedia
>> Dramatica for maps". We have whole conspiracy theory threads because ESRI
>> expressed a mild preference that mentioning the actual sum of their
>> donation in the press release would be tacky, or something. (It was $25k.
>> I've probably broken some embargo or something. So sue me.) This has now
>> morphed into "OSMF is institutionally broken" via some thought process I
>> can't pretend to understand.
>> 
>> Meanwhile on talk@, some poor student who posted an innocent survey got
>> jumped on. And the licence change... oh my lord. Rather than accepting and
>> offering help to the kind, generous guys who are actually committing vast
>> amounts of time and branepower to get it done - and maybe we'll hit 1st
>> April or maybe it'll be a few days after or well, whatever, it's not the
>> end of the world - we're all running round, on-list and off-list, shouting
>> "OMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE".
>> 
>> There is so much good stuff to celebrate in OSM right now. We have never
>> been so popular nor had so much media attention. There are people planning
>> to spend almost $1m to make OSM easier to use. The remapping work has
>> picked up momentum way beyond my expectations.
>> 
>> Everyone, basically, loves OSM. Let's remember that; value the
>> contributions of other volunteers; and try to actually enjoy ourselves. I
>> hope you will slap me down next time I'm a drama queen on the lists, and
>> in turn, I hope you'll all accept this friendly "calm down, dear" in the
>> spirit in which it was intended.
>> 
>> cheers
>> Richard
>> 
>> [cross-posted, please consider trimming follow-ups if replying]
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
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