I’m sure there must be a previously agreed rule or even just an agreement and consensus that it may be inappropriate to have some types of content here - e.g. a rectangle marked “Joe’s house” in an area where there is nothing else marked. I can’t find anything on the Wiki. Any pointers?
Well, a lot of “common sense” rules are not written down, but it is generally accepted that we do not map:
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data that violates the privacy of individuals (such as including the names of the inhabitants to buildings)
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quickly changing or unmaintainable information
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personal notes or recommendations, and unverifiable information in general
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information that is not geographic in nature (the exact limit is fuzzy, of course)
Thanks for that. As a veteran of Wikipedia I’m amazed at how well OSM functions without too many rules and enforcement. I’m a bit worried that it could get to be like some parts of Wikimapia, e.g. a quick look pulled up this http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=15.393115&lon=75.802574&z=14 with three land claims posted on it.
Anyway, I’ll just send a message to the person that added “Joe’s house”, asking if this contribution is really appropriate.