In preparation for a project, I made a concerted effort to clear "notes" in areas I know well. There were a few gems in there, but mostly it was pretty rough going.
Many open notes were not actionable: 1) Pure junk (empty, scribbles) 2) Unsolvable wishes 3) Incomplete information (with no way to contact the poster). 4) Requests to add a particular business, which did not interest me. 5) Private notes made by note author for themselves. 6) Lazy Requests to do cleanup that the note writer did not want to do themselves. 7) Gripes about other mappers. 8) Stuff that had already been done. What could be done to make notes better? The current top page introduction reads: *Spotted a mistake or something missing? Let other mappers know so we can fix it. Move the marker to the correct position and type a note to explain the problem. (Please don't enter personal information or information from copyrighted maps or directory listings.)* Could there be a multi step form? Or an extended description: Spotted a mistake or something missing? Let other mappers know so a volunteer can have a look. Move the marker to the correct position and type a note to explain the problem. * Please don't enter personal information or information from copyrighted maps or directory listings. * Please do include references to websites, photos or other documentation. * Please try to be complete, and write with the reader in mind. * For adding features, consider adding them yourself, rather than leaving a note. OSM is easy to edit, and your fellow mappers and community members value contributions. ------------------------------------ If the number of notes grows faster than the number of mappers, that's a problem. Notes will cease to be useful. There are two solutions: 1) Get more experienced mappers to process notes 2) Increase the "friction" of creating a note, in hopes that means less notes of higher quality. Your thoughs?
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