[OSM-talk] Changed highway=*_link meaning?!

David Paleino dapal at debian.org
Wed Jun 23 12:14:34 BST 2010


On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:56:29 +0100, Andy Allan wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 11:08 PM, David Paleino <dapal at debian.org> wrote:
> > Hello people,
> > does someone know the reasoning behind:
> >
> >  http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Map_Features:highway&diff=490719&oldid=485601
> >
> > ?
> >
> > It changed the meaning of almost all highway=*_link present in our database,
> > and the comment given doesn't explain the reason. With this change, only
> > highway=*_link connecting the same class of roads have the same meaning as
> > before.
> 
> Don't worry, it hasn't actually changed the meaning of anything - it's
> just that the wiki is now wrong. The easy way to fix the situation is
> to correct the wiki - it's as straightforward as that.

I *am* worried. While I (and you) know what is the correct way to tag
those things, newbies don't, and they may start tagging things the wrong way.

I'm not going to start an edit-war, I'd prefer someone with the proper rights
to revert that edit. Then we can start discussing the matter, and file bugs
where needed.

> Many of us refer to this kind of activity as "wikifiddling", or the
> counter-productive deliberate insertion of false statements onto the
> wiki in an attempt to influence the real world.

It should really be the opposite.

> It continues to be a widespread problem, mainly derived from the use of the
> wiki as a decision-making mechanism instead of (as it should be first and
> foremost) a place to collaboratively document facts.

I agree, but we don't have a "WIKIFIDDLING" label near each problematic
edit, nor a way to detect it :)
With that edit, it seems like the "fact" is what Richard wrote; this confuses
people.

David

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