[OSM-talk] stop deleting abandoned railroads

Russ Nelson nelson at crynwr.com
Fri Aug 14 03:09:09 UTC 2015


Ian Dees writes:
 > I appreciate that there are strong feelings about this topic, but we could
 > certainly use more constructive language and have a civilized conversation.

I would love to have a civilized conversation with civilized people
who don't destroy other people's work. You're asking for constructive
language about destruction, without any apparent irony.

It's really just a small handful of people who think it's okay not
just to delete things, but to counsel other people to delete
things. "I didn't see it, so I deleted it" is a reason for a ban, not
an excuse against being banned.

Of course, the defining problem here is what are these "things"? Are
they something that is obvious to everyone? Or are they something that
you can barely see as a shadow on an aerial photo, a bit of vegetation
in the wall between fields, or a small depression in a field, or
cinders where there ought to be sandy loam?  I will cheerfully
acknowledge that I am expert at locating abandoned railbeds, and that
my expert's eye can see things other people don't see. This isn't
Wikipedia. We allow original research and expert testimony.

So, is OSM to contain only the obvious that everyone can see? Or
should it contain everything that can be seen?

I'll leave the issue of railway=dismantled where I agree that there is
nothing to be seen for hundreds of feet for another day. Clearly we
are talking now about railway=abandoned that can be easily discerned
on the ground and from aerial photos.

-- 
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