First, I think Martijn's points have all been right on. 1) I don't think it is a good idea to come up with a code of conduct as a response to particular cases. When there's an actual dispute on the table that might be addressed by an as yet imaginary code, we are in reactionary mode and it will be really hard to think outside that box and devise a code that will address future cases well. Also, it weakens the position of the arbitrator if all of a sudden a code is conjured up out of nothing and used to make a point in the arbitration.
I agree entirely. As nerds (which I'm assuming many are), we enjoy the intellectual challenge of solving the general problem neatly. But that's a huge effort, opens up all sorts of issues, and distracts from the real question of whether a small number of individuals are egregiously not playing well with others. A detailed code would make sense if we had lots of people acting in ways that are near the edge of acceptability under the code, and we thought those people would adjust the way they act because of the code. From my experience, that isn't even close to the situation in OSM. Aside from the current discussion, I've only seen one instance of a mapper acting in a way that caused angst (when I considered myself a local). It was someone new, who was overenthusiastic about an import (of data that made sense to be imported). Basically he underestimated how hard it was to do right, but as the process went on he listened to people pointing out the problems, and he slogged through fixing it - and met others in person and talked about it. The map is better for this person's work, and I think all the rest of the locals agree. In this the person was 100% acting in good faith, we talked among ourselves, and we're all fine with how it came out. No code was necessary, and we didn't even think trying to talk to one, or about DWG. All that said, I think Richard's first draft at a code is entirely reasonable. Here's a normative statement that's trying to avoid being a code, but captures the top-level sentiment (point 2 is probably deferring to locals): Mappers should work collaboratively within the OSM community for the benefit of the map data, the tools, and the community.
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