[OSM-talk] Why do we have so many registered users with zero edits ?

[Jean-Marc Liotier]

On 04/13/2013 03:33 PM, Simon Poole wrote:
> While there is clearly room for improvement in converting account
> creators to contributors [..]

What about asking them why they registered and did not edit the map ?
Would a one-off mailing to users who registered more than three months
ago and have no edits and no traces, with a link to an anonymous online
survey be within the bounds of Openstreetmap's policy ?

Again, this is not about the users with just one edit (it seems that
those are well understood) - it is about users with no edit at all.

Here is a rough outline of what it could be (of course, any such project
will require a wiki page and much debate...) :

"Greetings from Openstreetmap - we have noticed that you created an
account x months ago and have not yet edited the map... We would love to
know why, so that we can provide better information to new users - would
you care to answer this anonymous survey ?

I created an account and have not edited the map yet because :
- I thought that registering was necessary for using Openstreetmap or
accessing the data
- I thought that registering would grant access to advanced features
- I found the tools and technical requirements too complicated"

In any case, if you have any question, don't hesitate to head to
http://help.openstreetmap.org - fellow cartographers will be delighted
to help you overcome any hurdle you may encounter"

Whatever such message ends up being designed could be sent to a few
hundred users for testing before sending it to a slightly larger
fraction and then to the whole population.

Do you think such a survey would help ? Would that be too spammy for
Openstreetmap's taste ?