[OSM-talk] Zero tolerance on imports
Frederik Ramm
frederik at remote.org
Sun Feb 20 00:40:03 GMT 2011
Hi,
Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> It isn't. How do we stop this impression taking hold? How do we explain
> that imports are _not_ welcome except as a last resort, and if you do
> them, you _must_ follow a very, very rigorous set of guidelines?
Find out what tools the importers are using. Place very big warnings in
the existing bulk uploaders etc.; JOSM could probably be made to issue a
warning (JOSM is good at warnings) when you load a local file with lots
of negative IDs and try to upload that:
"Uploading this file will incur the wrath of Richard Fairhurst. Continue?"
Also, http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Imports is currently painting
the picture that imports are something for the real pros - and could
even be interpreted as: "You're a real cool guy if you manage to do an
import properly." - when instead it should read: "Every import damages
the project, sacrificing long-term health for a short-term nice-looking
map."
Finally, all these warnings must sound hollow to someone who lives in a
place where 90% of data around him is imported. You will have a hard
time telling him that imports are bad. Maybe we should treat every
import as provisional, and if it hasn't been taken up and improved upon
by a local community after 12 months, remove it again.
I know and accept that some people do not have a strong anti-import
mindset. But I think we will all agree that even one mapper discouraged
by his work being plastered over with an import is the worst possible
outcome.
Bye
Frederik
--
Frederik Ramm ## eMail frederik at remote.org ## N49°00'09" E008°23'33"
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