[OSM-talk] Can wikidata links help fight name inflation?

[moltonel 3x Combo]

I agree with Dave here, but add some general remarks :

Please handle the questions of "should FOO-language name of an object
be allowed in the database ?" and "should that databse be OSM or
Wikidata ?" separately. The decision of whether "Абергавенни" should
be recorded as the Russian name for "Abergavenny" should be the same
for Wikidata and OSM.

I disagree with the idea that only local languages are acceptable,
firstly because you don't know that there isn't a local speaking that
language natively, and secondly because people have given names to
foreign places before even the first maps were drawn. A name doesn't
have to go through a vetting process to become a name. It becomes one
as soon as it is used and recognised by more than one person.

There's no point in complaining about name:ru (580k) when name:en is
at 1320k, name:ja 320k, name:de 280k, name:fr 270k, and the taginfo
map for all of those shows a worldwide distribution roughly matching
the worldwide OSM data density.

You can argue against machine-made non-reviewed translitterations,
because they don't add anything that a data consumer couldn't and
because they likely contain mistakes. But that's apparenlty not the
case of the name:ru changeset that got reverted.

I'm not worried about all named osm objects someday getting thousands
of name:CC tags because realistically that's not going to happen.
London still has a measly 154. Europe 46. Worldwide interest will
decide how far a given name goes, but I'd be surprised (and pleased)
if one place ever goes above 500.