[Talk-ca] openstreetmap.ca

[Darryl Shpak]

Good morning everyone,

For the last several years I've owned the domain openstreetmap.ca. Once 
upon a time it actually went to a useful website, but for at least a few 
years now, the site that the domain points to has been down. I keep 
telling myself that I'm going to do something useful with the domain, 
but obviously that hasn't happened yet, and frankly, it's not going to.

So: I am just about to renew this domain for another year. I would like 
to pass control of the domain over to the Canadian mapping community, to 
someone who will do something -- anything! -- with it that will be 
beneficial to Canadian users and/or mappers.

I believe in the OSM project, and have been very happy to see how the 
project, and the maps in Canada in particular, have grown in the years 
since I first joined up. Unfortunately, I don't have time to participate 
actively. This is really my last foreseeable contribution to the project 
and community.

I don't want to just let the domain lapse, because I'm sure it would be 
picked up and squatted immediately. I'd love to hear from one or more 
interested mappers who have the energy and ability to do something 
interesting with the domain. I know I had this conversation with a few 
talk-ca members a few years ago and it went nowhere, but that was 
primarily my fault for not following through on my end.

Finally, I'd like to apologize to the community for essentially 
squatting on this domain for years when it could have been put to 
valuable use. I bought it on a whim, and never really used it. I should 
have released it to the community years ago. I feel like I've acted 
contrary to the spirit of OSM, and am hoping to correct that by 
transferring this domain to someone who will do something beneficial 
with it.

- Darryl Shpak
Lapsed Mapper :-)