[OSM-talk] Should a deleted user's chainset list be removed?

[Andy Townsend]

On 11/10/2019 10:44, Dave F via talk wrote:
> Hi
>
> I was in a conversation with a user who's account has since been 
> deleted. ... When they were, I noticed a few dubious edits that I was 
> planning to double check in case they required reverting/amending. Is 
> there a way to see them?

Via the website at OpenStreetMap.org, not easily.

The "history" list will show them, but you may have to scroll back a 
long way.  I wouldn't expect that to be practical.

>
> As it stands it means those intent on vandalism could create an 
> account, deliberately add erroneous data, then delete leaving no 
> traceable record of their edits.

No, as previously mentioned there _is_ a trace of the edits, just not a 
nice button that you can click to get them on osm.org.

A place to start might be things last modified by them, so try 
http://overpass-turbo.eu/s/N21 which will fetch items in an area last 
modified by that user.  If you want to search at a previous point in 
time you may be able to combine that with a date search (see the 
overpass pages in the OSM wiki for info).


>
> Is this related to GDPR?
>
Not as far as I'm aware - this functionality predates GDPR.

Best Regards,

Andy