[OSM-talk] Tag proposal/approval system is too heavyweight

[Dave Stubbs]

On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 5:33 PM, Gervase Markham <gerv-gmane at gerv.net> wrote:
> Frederik Ramm wrote:
>   > Even without a mechanism of "approval" people will eventually settle
>   > down on a small number of ways of tagging common features. Not having an
>   > approval system does not mean people stop talking.
>
>  No, but it does mean that people don't re-re-visit the same decision
>  again and again, because there is a formal way to say "the decision is
>  made" and a common place to record the rationale.

I'll let you know when I stop laughing :-)


>   > So as long as there's at least some discussion that can be found (either
>   > in the Wiki or on the lists), things will go nicely even without formal
>   > proposals and approval. A plain simple "hey folks, how do you tag <x>"
>   > plus the 10 mails that follow is enough. Either all 10 use the same
>   > anyway (or 9 of 10 do), then the issue is clear, or if every single one
>   > of the 10 uses something else, but an approval/voting process wouldn't
>   > lead far then.
>
>  Well yes, it would, if the ten people had a discussion, looked at the
>  pros and cons of each method and decided which was the best and most
>  general.
>
>  Of course, if everyone dogmatically says "I tag this way, and nothing
>  will ever change me" then an approval/voting process doesn't help much.
>  But I don't think there are many OSM members who are that unreasonable
>  and dogmatic.

Conversely, if those people don't really exist then there's not much
point in a formal approval/voting process anyway cos everyone will
just find something to agree on.

I'm leaning towards a /. mod point type system weighted with some
actual use (by users/freq). It's kind of voting, but much more dynamic
and relevant, and with the option to show everything if you really
want. I'm not sure exactly how that would work, but it could be
interesting to think about, so I'll think about it, but probably not
do very much....

Dave