[Talk-br] [OpenStreetMap] #4902: Warnings for deleting/merging relation members

[Fernando Trebien]

For some reason I haven't received this message directly, so my reply
is a little late.
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/potlatch-dev/2014-February/002037.html

Of course I welcome diversity, Richard, I have many personal reasons
to welcome that, and I'm sure there are many people who are
comfortable with Potlatch. However, I don't know any "map maintainer"
(as I call someone who's watching changes and fixing errors as they
are introduced by others) who shares that opinion about Potlatch. Of
course, if all I wanted was to map without any regard for data
integrity, I would simply not ask for this. And why I care about this:
because the map was a huge mess in my area when I started mapping in
OSM. Later I understood that over 50% of that mess was due to
Potlatch-induced mistakes, and because there was nobody watching.

Here's my opinion in further detail:
http://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=24381

Other knowledgeable and well-involved contributors in Brazil agree, as
you see in my quotes at the bottom, and you can verify them at my
original post, linked at the top, to be sure nothing was "lost in
translation".

If there's no intention to deprecate Potlatch, then what was replied
in this TRAC issue makes little sense:
https://trac.openstreetmap.org/ticket/4902

Beginners are the main source of such mistakes, and I'm sure they
deserve attention. It doesn't matter to me if they use Potlatch or iD
(or Merkaator, or some other editor), as long as the program helps
prevent data loss which is easy to code for ("easy" in comparison to
porting iD to IE or writing a new editor from scratch). Most (if not
all) advanced users end up using JOSM anyway and its plethora of
visual styles, presets and extended tools.

As a side note, one can easily highlight routes in JOSM by searching
for "type=route". It's also very easy to write a visual style that
highlights them. But for data integrity, this is usually not necessary
because JOSM warns the user when deleting members of relations. Even
if the user doesn't see them, he/she will know they exist, and that's
what leads to seeking more knowledge about them.

AFAIK, bulk edits are easy to detect and are mostly done by advanced
users who are likely to have come across these pieces of advice:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Automated_Edits
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Import/Guidelines

Acting big and irresponsibly can be seen as vandalism, for which there is this:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Detect_Vandalism

So, Richard, not a personal attack, but these issues need attention.
I'm sure OSM has already lost great contributors in Brazil that felt
that it was too easy to have their work undone because of these little
issues.

-- 
Fernando Trebien
+55 (51) 9962-5409

"The speed of computer chips doubles every 18 months." (Moore's law)
"The speed of software halves every 18 months." (Gates' law)