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7

(And where should I have asked this question? wink)

I bring 99% of my questions here because I like the interface and (mostly) get good answers quickly. But I occasionally get the "take this to the forum", "this belongs on the talk page" or "subscribe to the mailing list" advice. If I do and post my questions there, am I getting more people to look at them? Better informed people? People more inclined to talk?

And why do we have so many venues for retrieving information about OSM? Is this multiplicity a source of frustration to anyone else?

asked 07 Mar '11, 22:40

ponzu's gravatar image

ponzu
2.0k496382
accept rate: 0%

edited 16 Mar '11, 19:03

There is also reddit that's good for talk and general discussions (as well as questions) :)

(18 Sep '18, 22:16) ivss_xx

2 Answers:
23

The idea of the help.openstreetmap.org site is to find (ideally) the best-suited answer, or couple of answers, to a question that is likely of interest to many people.

Things that are less welcome at help.openstreetmap.org include

  • very specific questions the solution to which is unlikely to benefit others ("can someone tell me what is broken with way #123123?") - these are best asked on the mailing list/forum or even IRC.
  • non-questions, especially suggestions ("Do others think OSM should do more of X, like I do?") which should go to the mailing list/forum, or bug reports ("When I click X in program Y it crashes, why?") which should go to trac or the relevant GitHub repository.
  • discussions ("is this multiplicity a source of frustration to anyone else?") - put them on the mailing list or forum.

Before you post to help.openstreetmap.org, ask yourself: Is there, at least theoretically, the one single all-encompassing perfect answer that will immediately close the topic for me and probably also help many others with a similar issue? If yes, post here. If no ("I wasn't looking for one big answer, I wanted to hear thoughts from many others", "I just wanted to get people thinking...", or "I wanted to get the message out hoping that people would email me") then don't.

The difference between the various media lies not mainly in who participates, but in the way results are archived and made accessible. IRC and the lists or forums are more of a fleeting media and have a bigger "expression of opinion" component whereas this site here is supposed to remain factual.

permanent link

answered 07 Mar '11, 23:17

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
73.3k866641137
accept rate: 24%

edited 23 Feb '18, 07:15

aseerel4c26's gravatar image

aseerel4c26 ♦
32.2k16239552

Oh boy, there's the IRC, too :)

(07 Mar '11, 23:23) ponzu

Note how you said that the first type of question should go to list, forum OR IRC. Are you unable to recommend one over the other two?

(07 Mar '11, 23:26) ponzu
6

+1 Good answer. Seeing that you have a fairly high reputation, could you maybe add that information to the FAQ? The FAQ does not really explain which questions are appropriate here...

(07 Mar '11, 23:26) sleske
1

Ponzu, i think list/forum are mostly interchangeable. If I had a very concrete question about a specific object or situation I would try IRC first and if that doesn't yield any answers I would go to the forum or the list.

Sleske, I'll try to change the FAQ.

(17 Mar '11, 18:44) Frederik Ramm ♦

PS Thanks to Frederik Ramm.

The link to the trac is : trac.openstreetmap.org (the original link in Frederik's message is non active...)

(23 Jul '12, 15:45) Pascal Boule...
0

get good answers quickly

How to get good answers quickly ? Is there a way to have an advanced search within all questions.

For instance, if I type and search for these keyword : advanced search for questions ?

I get more than 1 000 results...

Is it possible to refine the search with logical conditions such as : Must contain keyword1 AND Must contain keyword2


1053 questions matching 'advanced search questions'

permanent link

answered 23 Jul '12, 15:43

Pascal%20Boulerie%20ENSG's gravatar image

Pascal Boule...
216710
accept rate: 0%

That should probably be posted as an question of its own rather than as an answer. (Note that answers on Q&A aren't the same as a reply in a forum thread.)

(18 Sep '18, 21:38) das-g

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question asked: 07 Mar '11, 22:40

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