[Osmf-talk] Hostile takeover of the OpenStreetMap Foundation?

[Brian M. Sperlongano]

My comments here are my personal opinion and do not reflect the position of
OSM US.

I recently learned of OSMF board member Roland Olbricht's recent
comments[1] on the talk-de list. While Roland posted his comments back in
October, they have only recently circulated amongst the English-speaking
OSM community after Christoph Hormann cited them in a recent blog
posting[2]. In full disclosure, I am not a German speaker, so I rely on
machine translations and translations/interpretations of other German
speakers in the community to understand the substance and context of these
remarks.

I was concerned to hear Roland describe the candidacy, or possible
candidacy, of three American OSM community members listed by name as ugly
(unschöne), describing one as "not looking at tagging consensus with his
butt" (Community-Konsens zu Tagging einmal mit dem Hintern nicht angeschaut
hat). I'm hoping this awkwardly-translated phrase is an idiom that doesn't
translate well into English. I also understand from the subject line and
the bizarre remarks that Roland feels that Facebook is plotting a secret
hostile takeover of the project. Additionally, Roland indicates that he
chose to post his remarks in a German-language forum specifically for the
purpose of ensuring that the wrong people (presumably, speakers of English)
are disinvited from the discussion: (Das steht bewusst hier und in Deutsch
außerhalb der automatische Übersetzung, damit nicht noch mehr fragliche
Personen sich eingeladen fühlen).

As an active mapper in the US and a board member of its local chapter, I
find it incredibly problematic if a sitting OSMF board member openly
objects to the candidacy of American community members, or American
companies' participation in the project, purely based on nationality. I am
proud of the technical, monetary, and in-kind contributions that US-based
individuals and companies make on an ongoing basis toward the success of
this project. Look at the sponsors page of our last State of the Map
conference[3] and ask yourself if the event would have been as successful
without the American contributions.

It is the responsibility of the OSMF board and its members to make a
good-faith and professional effort to advance the goals of the global
project as a whole rather than representing a particular country, language,
or special interest group, at the expense of others. Remarks to the
contrary by the project's leadership harm our ability to attract
contributions large and small.

Roland's comments suggest hostility towards non-Germans, despite his duty
as a board member to serve the entire OSMF membership. I am appalled that a
project leader has chosen to single out American contributors and companies
to describe them as unwanted contributors to the project.

Roland, can you explain these remarks? Do they represent the views of the
OSMF? Can you assure us that the Foundation is not biased against American
participation in the project?

[1]
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-de/2022-October/117842.html
[2]
https://imagico.de/blog/en/the-openstreetmap-foundation-in-2022-the-upcoming-elections/
[3] https://2022.stateofthemap.org/#sponsors
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