On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 1:35 PM, Ed Loach <[email protected]> wrote: > Elizabeth wrote: > >> No, I cannot create the nice map.
I do not want to be so blunt, but I do not know any other way: then stop complaining about the map. Or anything an OSM user can complain about at OSM, for that matter. This is an open data project, so I have been told. Like many open source projects that it relies upon, specifically the tools used to render and manipulate OSM data, the ecosystem upon which it relies is meritocracy. The people you have take issue with do have the power because they have the knowledge and skills to create these tools or refine them. If you do not like the current tool set, and you are not part of a significant plurality of users and developers who can enforce such a change, you have to learn to make your own. I am sorry, but that was, is, and always will be the way open source works, at least in my mind. I have my own opinions on OSM quality, but then again I am not yet a component OSM contributor, web developer, or system administrator. It is not my place to judge until I understand the tools well enough to critique them accurately on a technical level (nice is not really specific enough for me), and then modify them or make new ones in the event a significant number of people in the community disagree with me. The point of the community is to leverage your skills with the skills of others. That way, we have a high competency level in multiple dimensions. If you do not like one component and cannot fix it yourself, it is bizarre for me, personally, to insist others conform to your wishes. I have believed that open source and open data projects specifically let go of that thinking so that skilled, inspired people can focus on what they want without organizational problems where unknowledgeable people higher in a hierarchy get in their way. Hence OSM and many other groups try to keep the hierarchy very flat (some do, anyway). I do not mean to be rude about this, but it is obvious to me. I am not sure if needs to be spelled out. _______________________________________________ talk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
