Hi,

On 22.08.2018 14:54, Christoph Hormann wrote:
>> There is a clear majority in favor of working with Github

> Apart from the mentioned FOSS policy for WG work (which does not become 
> invalid because some WGs ignore it) everyone is of course free to use 
> whatever communication means they prefer.

I find it saddening when closed platforms are used in the context of
outreach and "community building". If you have a small group that
doesn't intend to grow and just solve one problem together, fine, take a
vote among yourselves and use whatever works best for you.

But if you want to be open then you absolutely must not use a platform
where a third party (in this case, Github) gets to decide who can and
who cannot contribute and under which terms. Github alone choses who
gets an account. They might make issuing accounts dependent on any
conditions at any time. They might milk anyone's contributions or usage
patters for "big data" at any time.

It is very short-sighted to organise anything that wants to be "open"
around Github. Worst of all, when you're only starting something, a
small number of people who don't think about the consequences takes a
decision for Github because that's what they know, and from then on,
every new person who joins gets the impression that "Github is the way
things are done around here".

And when another group is formed, they will say "well this other working
group also uses Github..." as an excuse for sticking to it.

Don't do it. It's not free, it's not open, it forces contributors to
sign a contract with an US American business that should not have
anything to do with participation in an OSM working group. Just because
those who start the group have already signed away their rights and have
resigned their privacy - don't make doing the same a precondition for
anyone else who wants to contribute.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frede...@remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"

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