[OSM-talk] Update: Advice needed - dispute regarding names in Cyprus

[Lauri Hahne]

On 11/11/2007, Abigail Brady <morwen at evilmagic.org> wrote:
> You've tried to reason with them, but this user is clearly displaying an
> attitude that they are using openstreetmap to push a political agenda.  We
> should take a strong line against any such person who is deliberately
> deleting material for political purposes - whether they are deleting names
> from disputed towns - or hypothetically, whether they are deleting entire

I think it's a mistake to claim all this kind of activity to zeal.
Most of people living in or near disputed areas have been told all
their live to use certain names and been told some reasons for it
(like the "legality" argument) and also been told to defend their
stance. They fail to see nothing wrong in their doing and even think
that the other side must be zealot because he/she just can't get the
"facts". Because these are far too important issues to blame just on
zeal, I think that no account should be suspended solely because of
actions like this unless the account is mainly used to this kind of
actions.

And to counter things like this, I think OSM should make a statement
like "OSM reflects the world as it is perceived by a person on ground
at the very location. We only use data available on site and PD maps
corrected to reflect the contemporary situation."

-- 
Lauri Hahne