[OSM-talk] [Osmf-talk] Calm down, dear

deb deb at dtold.com
Wed Mar 21 14:35:52 GMT 2012


Awesome analogy! :)


Cheers,

Deb Tankersley


On Mar 21, 2012, at 7:10 AM, "Richard Fairhurst" <richard at systemeD.net> wrote:

> In the UK there's a really annoying TV advert in which Michael Winner
> (past-it film director and restaurant critic) urges "Calm down, dear. It's
> only a commercial". You can find it on YouTube if you want. Our beloved
> (ahem) Prime Minister used the phrase to slap down a critic in the House
> of Commons and was rightly panned for it.
> 
> So I realise I'll probably be panned for saying the same, but:
> 
> Calm down, dear. It's only a free map of the world.
> 
> The amount of drama (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=drama)
> in OSM at the moment is quite bewildering. It's almost as if we've decided
> to stop being "Wikipedia for maps" and start being "Encyclopaedia
> Dramatica for maps". We have whole conspiracy theory threads because ESRI
> expressed a mild preference that mentioning the actual sum of their
> donation in the press release would be tacky, or something. (It was $25k.
> I've probably broken some embargo or something. So sue me.) This has now
> morphed into "OSMF is institutionally broken" via some thought process I
> can't pretend to understand.
> 
> Meanwhile on talk@, some poor student who posted an innocent survey got
> jumped on. And the licence change... oh my lord. Rather than accepting and
> offering help to the kind, generous guys who are actually committing vast
> amounts of time and branepower to get it done - and maybe we'll hit 1st
> April or maybe it'll be a few days after or well, whatever, it's not the
> end of the world - we're all running round, on-list and off-list, shouting
> "OMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE".
> 
> There is so much good stuff to celebrate in OSM right now. We have never
> been so popular nor had so much media attention. There are people planning
> to spend almost $1m to make OSM easier to use. The remapping work has
> picked up momentum way beyond my expectations.
> 
> Everyone, basically, loves OSM. Let's remember that; value the
> contributions of other volunteers; and try to actually enjoy ourselves. I
> hope you will slap me down next time I'm a drama queen on the lists, and
> in turn, I hope you'll all accept this friendly "calm down, dear" in the
> spirit in which it was intended.
> 
> cheers
> Richard
> 
> [cross-posted, please consider trimming follow-ups if replying]
> 
> 
> 
> 
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