[OSM-talk] Contributing to PL2 (was: Re: Thoughts on OSM design, and looking forward and back)

[Steve Bennett]

On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 9:13 AM, Randy <rwtnospam-newsgp at yahoo.com> wrote:
> So, Steve, is your point a complaint or an offer to help (or both)? And if
> a complaint, do you have a suggestion for improvement?

An observation of a deficiency isn't really a complaint. I actually do
want to help with PL2 (if there are things I can do), but it won't be
for the next 6 weeks.

>Do you want to see
> development opportunities advertised in talk more, or something else?

Yes, and in plenty of other ways, too.

> My personal thought: Maybe we need an announce list, which is nothing more
> than a list for folks to announce various opportunities, or new (or old)
> products periodically, with a general agreement (or moderation) that the
> only allowed replies are requests for more information or their responses.

Sure, but don't restrict relevant announcements to such a list. Just
like I thought it was a shame when all the Haiti traffic left the main
OSM talk list, it's a shame to segregate topics too strictly - the
occasional relevant, targeted appeal for development help would be
worth sharing with the broader OSM community.

> It could include announcements for mapping party (or not?), development
> opportunities, product releases or revisions, a new wiki page for ideas
> for a simple editor, etc. With a once a month repeat annoucement being
> allowed, so new folks wouldn't have to go to the archives to catch up.
> Keeping the chatter to a minimun would make it easier to quickly scan the
> list, rather than wading through a lot of stuff on talk. Where dialog is
> needed the topic could move to talk, or a dev list, or one-to-one.

People don't really go looking for things they're not aware of. Better
to occasionally, discreetly put it in their faces.

Steve