[OSM-talk] Summary of the irc meeting.

[Tom Carden]

On 4/7/06, Etienne Cherdlu <openstreetmap-L at gj0.net> wrote:
>
> If you don't reward contributors like this then the project will
> pretty quickly fork and that would be a really bad thing.

What's the reward?  Membership to OSMF?  Some reward!

Where would forking the project get anyone?  I can see how US members
might want to fork the project, if they don't like the proposed import
of TIGER.  For others, how would a perceived lack of reward be fixed
by forking the project?

I think free maps are their own reward.  Setting minimum requirements
for membership only encourages a crapflood.  I am similarly against
publishing lists of top contributors/editors/coders.  This is web
community 101 - any system that can be gamed will be.

My suggestion of requiring postal address or phone number is in
response to a general concern that people might try to get more than
one vote.  It's not actually a concern I share, so I'll leave it
there.

>
> Why make it so difficult - who are you trying to keep out?  Ed Parsons?
>

Mickey Mouse, Postman Pat, Michael Jackson, Tony Blair and John
Lennon.  (Ever tried to get signatures/names for a mailing list or
petition?  It's amazing how many of these you get).

Tom.