RfC: deprecate hashtag-only changeset comments

Hi there,

I am disheartened by the fact that after years of politely arguing for human-readable changeset comments, and politely pointing out to newbies that hashtag-only changeset comments are undesirable, the majority of new OSM users are still using them. Here’s a sample from the last couple of hours:

  • #hotosm-project-14894 #OpenCitiesLAC #factset
  • #CanCross #StarbucksMaps
  • #starbucksmapping #cancross
  • #cancross #starbucksmaps
  • #hotosm-project-15476 #moroccoearthquake2023 #OPSGIS2023
  • #hlgivesback
  • #hotosm-project-15153 #jpmc #hlgivesback

The majority of new users now uses hashtag-only changeset comments, which is disrespectful to anyone not within the inner circles of whatever “#hlgivesback” or “#cancross #starbucksmaps” is.

I suggest the following actions:

  1. reach out to the makers of tools (mostly Tasking Manager) and ask them to ensure that human-readable comments are a required first and hashtags are an optional second.
  2. after a while - maybe 3-4 months -, start automatically adding comments to any changeset that has a hashtag-only changeset comment, politely asking that these be avoided.
  3. after another while - maybe another 3-4 months -, start enforcing this request by either (3a) automatically blocking any account that repeatedly uses hashtag-only changeset comments and/or (3b) automatically reverting any changeset that has a hashtag-only changeset comment.

Opinions?
Frederik

57 posts - 25 participants

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Ce sujet de discussion accompagne la publication sur https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/rfc-deprecate-hashtag-only-changeset-comments/105770