[OSM-talk] Undiscussed (?) edits removing lesser-used highway=* tags

[GerdP]

Andy Townsend wrote
>> Will this be frustrating for any mapper? I doubt that.
> 
> We need to think a little beyond people who know about "nodes", "ways" 
> and "relations" here.  Anything that says "you can't do that because" 
> had better be really clear about what the problem is (and not use words 
> like "tag" or refer to OSM's wiki) otherwise this _will_ be frustrating, 
> and will stop people contributing.

I thought exactly about that when I wrote that sentence. Whenever I use a 
dialog system I expect it to guide me and say something like
xyz is not one of the usual values. You find more information about
this at <link> in combination with a checkbox like 
"I know what I am doing, don't warn me again" for those who don't
care that the data they are collecting is not yet understood by data 
consumers. 
Alternatives may be 
- a link to a list of nearby mappers
- links to beginners guides on youtube 
- whatever people prefer 

In short: I hate dialog systems which don't complain but also don't
do what I want it to do.

While looking at the elements tagged with e.g. 
"highway=residential;unclassified"
I often saw three or more changes done by the same mapper
within a short time, and sometimes that was the last edit by this
mapper. 
My explanation for that was that the mapper saved his change,
waited for "his" way to appear in the map, and when that did
not happen, tried again adding or changing tags (but not that
wrong highway tag), finally he gave up. I am pretty sure
that this mapper was frustrated and that he might tell his/her
friends that OSM is too complicated or something like
"they did not accept my edit".

Besides that I agree that a (helping) comment on a problematic 
changeset after a reasonable time (I think 24 hours
at least, 3 days at most) from a nearby mapper
speaking the same language is a very good means to
avoid early frustration.

Gerd 




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