On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 9:27 PM, SomeoneElse <li...@mail.atownsend.org.uk> wrote: > Well, it's to "document" standards, not to "create" them. If that's what > you meant by "establish" then +1 to you too. > > The biggest problem the wiki has is that in some quarters editing it seems > to have become an end in itself rather than a necessary evil to make sure > that we're all singing off the same hymnsheet. "Documenting" obscuring > procedures that almost no-one follows helps no-one, as does "approving" tags > when only a few people could be bothered to "vote".
Again, I'm surprised this discussion needs to be had, but there is clearly very poor shared understanding of what the wiki is for and how to use it. It seems obvious to me that the wiki is to document *shared* understanding of mapping standards. You don't attempt to change policy simply by making an edit - but editing the wiki is also a legitimate part of building consensus for a change to policy. (Provided you do it right...) It's a pity that people who complain about "wiki-fiddlers" make no distinction between people who put time and effort into keeping the wiki up to date (and reflecting community norms), and, well, people who cause chaos by editing. > There's also a regular problem with "extrapolating from the local" - some > wiki editors state something that may be true in their local area, but > simply isn't worldwide. Unless a comment of that sort is caveated with e.g. > "In the Duchy of Grand Fenwick..." it's often confusing. Yep. But to be honest, I think we vastly overestimate the extent to which different communities actually map the same way. So every time some little issue like roundabouts comes up on the mailing lists there's this enormous shock: "you do *what* over there???" (It's also very hard, if you're trying to document in the wiki, to know what to extent the practice you're describing is a local, regional, national, or international practice...) > It got to be in its current state because someone (Monxton) rearranged a > previous sprawling mess after discussion on talk-gb about how best to > structure it - it hasn't been "invented, imposed and ignored" as a number of > other pages have been. Sure. But just think how many discussions have ended up achieving nothing because of the dynamics of the mailing lists. Personally I find it pretty hard to stay interested after about 30 posts on a topic, and I'm probably not the only one. So the only people who stick around to the death are probably those with the most extreme views. Steve _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
