[OSM-talk] Barriers of Entry

[Nic Roets]

Barriers to entry are good when they prevent us from doing some thing bad.

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 9:24 AM, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
>   there are many different types of barriers. There are of course those we
> tag with "barrier", the physical ones. They are used to keep unwanted,
> unauthorized or unsuitable people or vehicles out.


Congestion e.g. blocking walkways or cycleways is bad. Pollution is bad.

There are barriers of entry in the form of entrance exams at places like
> universities, with the aim of assessing the likelihood of someone succeeding
> in their studies.


Students keeping the professors busy with the school curriculum is bad.
Students dropping out with large amounts of debt is bad.

And of course there are job interviews, where employers sometimes raise the
> barrier of entry so high that only one in 1000 can pass.
>

Paying someone more than they are producing is bad. Firing someone is often
expensive and disruptive.


> In OpenStreetMap, people sometimes point to our barriers of entry and
> blindly claim that they must be bad for us. The main page not welcoming
> enough, the editor too difficult, the path to signup too cumbersome, and on
> and on.
>

If a newbie tries to change something and makes a mess (1), it's only a bad
thing if it's difficult to spot the mistake(2) and revert it (3).

The only important thing is that (2) and (3) must be much easier than (1).
We don't need "barriers to entry".
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