[Osmf-talk] Running

Harry Wood mail at harrywood.co.uk
Fri Oct 24 02:00:45 UTC 2014


To be fair to Steve, he is a bit less antagonistic when you meet him in person, but who isn't? I agree with Sarah Hoffmann's description of him

> Steve has a long history of being impossible to discuss with and of

> personally insulting pretty much anybody who disagrees with him.

> He has managed to wear out pretty much anybody who is a bit more deeply
> involved in the project 

So to my mind it's very bad news when Steve announces he wants to be more involved again. Simon Poole clearly feels the same. What a shame.

When Steve announced "MapClub" and "OSMPlus", my thought was that they're interesting ideas, and if they came from anyone else I would've supported them, but having new parts of OpenStreetMap with Steve at the helm is really the last thing we need.

They were also problematic from a "competition" point of view, but I think Kai raises an interesting point, that complaining about this competition is a bit at odds with the "keep OSMF small and lean" viewpoint.

I subscribe to that viewpoint. Hiring lots of people and growing OSMF doesn't need to be the goal. But we need to be clear about what that means when it comes to "sister" organisations. It surely means they should be encouraged. It means we should try to solve more OSM problems, build more structure, and move more money around outside of the OSMF. Personally I think we should also have agreements in place which cement OSMF as a relevant central organisation with secure funding. But that's a complicated issue which the board needs to work on.

...and all the while the chairman emeritus of the OSMF will "try new things" when we least expect it.

Harry




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