[OSM-talk] Why newbies' comment/message response rate is so low?

GerdP gpetermann_muenchen at hotmail.com
Sat Nov 14 17:30:28 UTC 2015


MichaƂ Brzozowski wrote
> On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 5:19 PM, Gerd Petermann
> <

> GPetermann_muenchen@

> > wrote:
>> I think that's quite okay presuming that many users don't speak english
> I forgot to mention. My operations with respect to newcomers are
> almost solely in Poland. So I write in Polish.
> 
>> and another group simply doesn't like to be watched / corrected
> I thought this is what community is about? Reviewing others' work? ;-)
> The things I write about are rather obvious mistakes, like: no main
> POI tag (amenity, shop, ...), free text in opening_hours, geometry
> errors and so on.
> 
> Recently I found out that simple "please fix" or "please respond" (if
> edits need clarification) boosts chances for a reply or fixing by the
> user. How about we make some tips/guidelines for communications with
> newcomers on the Wiki? People could share practices they find most
> effective.

Well, during my worktime I learned that a phrase like this works very well:
"please help me to understand why you do it like this ..." or
"please explain what the tag xyz means"
If you think that you have a better idea, add something like
"maybe you meant .... ?"  
You don't risk to sound like Big Brother or a smartass, the odds are good
that 
you get a response.

Sometimes I just change obvious errors and ask for a review of
my changeset. No answer means OK for me, for any answer I say
thank you and maybe more where useful.

I also learned that in some countries it is not common
to say "okay, I've done something wrong, what can we do to make it better?",
instead the first thought seems to be "what can I do to keep my face?".

Gerd



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