[OSM-talk] Make Messaging public, or other changes?

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

     I'd like to ask for a quick show of hands on the idea of making the
whole built-in OSM messaging system public (not retroactively of course,
but change it so that anyone can ready any message written in the future).

I am not sure whether this is a good idea myself, that's why I ask. The
rationale behind this is the following: We suspect that there is quite a
bit of "new user intimidation" going on here in Germany, where people
sometimes almost obsessively "protect" their area against changes and
might, sometimes rather impolitely, challenge newcomers.

Since this is not happening in public, the newcomer has nobody to help
him, and anyone can basically say anything ("Haven't you read that
pelican crossings are deprecated?") without someone else noticing. Being
what he is, the newcomer will of course take everything at face value
and go down a path of trouble.

If all intra-OSM messaging were public (somewhat like a Wiki "talk"
page), then even if only few people took the time to actually read other
people's conversations, it would be easier for the community as a whole
to get involved and protect its interests against individuals causing
trouble, and knowing that what oen writes is public, people might also
exercise some restraint when choosing their words.

Another thing one could to if public messaging does not find favour is
posting a caveat immediately over the "write message" text area,
something along the lines of "if you're about to criticize someone whom
you don't know, think twice and always assume good faith", whatever.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"