[Talk-GB] Upcoming changes to OpenStreetMap.org website

[ael]

I would like to apologize for my posting which seems to have offended
some people. I admit that it was strong, but the welcome box was
hugely intrusive on the small screen that I was using. I spend more time
than I can really afford contributing to OSM, and was annoyed that the
change was getting in the way at a stressful moment.

I have been a user and advocate for open source for many years, so
normally refrain from criticism on the basis that if I can't or don't
have time to fix it myself, then I have no right to comment. That
goes with deep admiration and acknowledgement of all the free
contributions from others.

In this case, I had not had time to look at videos and slides from the
SOTM sessions, or the preview, but others had already identified the
problem, but it seemed that the message had come back that there was not
"much hope for this one to change". I know that I should have looked
at the github comments as well as the other material so that I
understood the arguments properly, but time was scarce.

In my area, there are about 27 people registered with OSM within about 8km.
Of these 20 have made no edits, 5 have made less than 3 edits, and there
are just 2 who have made more significant contributions, although neither
have been active recently. So around here, at least, the problem is not
with getting people to sign up, but something after joining. Thus I
found the idea of trying to coerce new people into signing up misguided.
More importantly, as an "insider" I found the welcome box alienating,
and I was sure that outsiders would be even more repelled.
If I had consulted the source material, perhaps I would have discovered
that I had misunderstood, or that there was evidence to the contrary.

When I encountered the new welcome box, I jumped to the conclusion that the
change had been steam-rollered through without any acknowledgement of
the reservations that had been expressed on this list and, apparently,
elsewhere which was not the usual ethos of the OSM community. 

I have to say that now that the intrusive large intrusive box has gone,
the new osm map page is superb. So congratulations to everyone who has
worked on it, and responded to feedback.

This email was delayed by system reconfiguration ...

ael