[OSM-talk] Main page (www.openstreetmap.org)

[SteveC]

On 27 May 2007, at 07:00, Frederik Ramm wrote:

> Hi,
>
>> There was actually quite a lot of opposition to the idea of
>> redirecting to the wiki.  The redirect was setup after an offlist
>> group email was sent to the sysadmins - the 'pro redirect' lobby
>> were better organised and more forceful than the 'keep it how it
>> is' lobby.
>
> That shouldn't happen. The main page is important to all of us. It
> must not be changed just like that, after "offlist group emails".
> (What if the mailing that 80n spoke of contained something like "just
> click on so-and-so on the main page to ..."?).
>
> It was a mistake to change it without discussion then, and it was a
> mistake to change it without discussion (or even announcement!) now.
> Who did it, and why did he/she not care enough for the community to
> at least state his/her intent on the list beforehand? Surely
> something could have be learned from the previous changeover when the
> redirect was installed?
>
> I didn't like the wiki start page all that much, but I dislike the
> new page even more, it is just ugly and not well designed. And I,
> too, think that the three-panel sketches we have seen did represent
> the core of the project much much better than what is now on the
> start page. (For example, who uses the Users' diaries - do they
> really reflect what is going on more than e.g. the talk list, and if
> not, then why is there a big fat link to Users' diaries while the
> talk list is buried somewhere? The blog behind "News blog" has much
> less to do with OSM than one might expect. And I don't even start to
> discuss the "Shop" link.)
>
> Another minus is that the map shown initially is empty. EMPTY. It
> doesn't contain the smallest bit of data created by OSM. Zoom in one
> level and you have some roads at least, a "proof of life" if you will.

Feel free to fix.

> Finally, nothing tops a static page in availability. The wiki wasn't
> available enough, and I am pretty sure the map won't be either.
>
> But of all points mentioned, the fact that the change has been made
> without any discussion or AT LEAST announcement bothers me most. (Or
> did I miss something?) I really thought it was an accident.

I got 5-10 emails from people 'petitioning' me in strong language to  
change it over to the wiki after a bunch of people talked about it on  
IRC.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

have fun,

SteveC | steve at asklater.com | http://www.asklater.com/steve/



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