[OSM-talk] Mechanical edits

[Andrew MacKinnon]

Recently we have been having a problem with several users doing
mechanical edits to add the prefix "ON" to the ref of every highway in
Ontario. The Canadian OSM community is unhappy with this.

I admit that I have been guilty of doing inappropriate mechanical
edits in the past, but I am wondering: is it time that OSM implements
controls on doing mechanical edits in the API? In other words, should
OSM implement a feature in the API that bans doing edits over a
certain size (perhaps 5 degrees latitude or 5 degrees longitude, with
larger amounts of longitude allowed near the north and south pole as
this would make editing there impossible otherwise), with exceptions
for administrators/designated users? Would this cause so much of a
problem for legitimate users that this is a bad idea?