[OSM-talk] MapRoulette - cryptic tasks

[Andy Townsend]

On 26/02/2020 11:57, Frederik Ramm wrote:
> a user started adding "trace_zoom" and "trace_zoom:range" tags to
> objects in OSM, and closer inspection led to this MapRoulette task:
>
> https://maproulette.org/challenge/12836/task/42414493

In this particular example the person creating the task instructions and 
the person doing the editing appear to be one and the same.

I don't think that the top level goal ("trace some imagery!") is a 
problem here; it's the suggestion to add some crap to the changeset 
comments that is - the user appears to be using maproulette as a way of 
astroturfing their editing style.

That said, there have been some problem Maproulette tasks in the past* - 
some just invite users to perform mechanical edits ("Change sub_station 
to substation" https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=62996 
was one example, one that resulted in lots of erroneous embassies was 
another).

Presumably anyone can sign up at maproulette.org and create challenges, 
just like they can sign up to edit in OSM?  Perhaps maproulette.org 
challenges would benefit from similar feedback mechanisms so as a way of 
people saying "I don't think that this challenge is a good idea as 
written because...", in a similar way that people can comment to 
changeset discussions?

Best Regards,

Andy

(a member of the DWG, but as is usually the case on this list, writing 
in a personal capacity)

* based on what gets reported to the DWG