[WelcomeWG] Messages to new mappers

[SomeoneElse]

Charlotte Wolter wrote:
> Frankly, I'm amazed OSM has stuck around as long as it has, 
> considering how little it does to hang onto new members. But, this has 
> to change, if OSM is to reach its potential.

I'm not sure what "it" is above - isn't it "us"?

> What does everyone else think?

Personally, I think that any such messages need to be local, either 
initially from a local organisation or from individual local mappers, in 
either case being aware of local sensibilities.

In the UK, for example, we tend not to have things like "greeters" in 
shops, and any introductory message here would have to avoid being too 
"forward".  I personally try and let mappers correct their own mistakes 
and when I do send messages I try to make them personal (from one human 
to another, not from a machine), customised (so that it exactly 
describes the problem and how to fix it), local (I'd say things like 
"when I was last at XYZ...") and apologetic ("the documentation is 
wrong, it's really easy to miss XYZ").

Cheers,
Andy

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