Mapper in JOSM is adding superfluous tags

OSM user Dartmouthmapmaker has been making mass edits in JOSM with scant comment.

Here’s an example of nodes being tagged as “surface=asphalt” - all along the highway!
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/3543003011

I added a changeset comment asking about these. I’m guessing it was a mistake.

There are many mistakes:
“Woodside Industial Park” https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/63624813#map=16/44.6557/-63.5350 - Version 8!
“Portland Street Overpassshttps://www.openstreetmap.org/way/469846247#map=19/44.67058/-63.53600
“Main Stret East…” https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/585943860#map=19/44.68141/-63.54445

Why don’t you contact him? Write a message via osm.org or add changeset comments.

By the way do you know OSMCha? You can track the users edits, contact him and document your observations. It is also a possible support for a decision if you need help by Data Working Group (DWG) or want to do any reverts.

Quite a bit of contact has already been made (see http://resultmaps.neis-one.org/osm-discussion-comments?uid=698649 ), and to be fair to the mapper concerned, they have tended to reply.

Unfortunately it can be tricky when people’s enthusiasm exceeds what they’re actually capable of doing. It’s especially tricky when (as here) they’ve been a mapper for a while and have made quite a lot of changes. All I can suggest is to flag up each and every issue in the changeset discussion, explain what went wrong, and explain how to fix it. Then if we (the DWG) find the same mistakes being made again and again we can try and do something about it. What we don’t want to do is start blocking every over-enthusiastic mapper - but I can understand the extra work that it means to everyone else to keep tidying up afterwards.

Best Regards
Andy (DWG)

I sent the user a message suggesting that they take a break from adding new data and go back and deal with the many outstanding issues from their previous changesets, including examples of what needs to be cleaned up. If they continue to make the same mistakes, I’ll comment on all of the relevant changesets as suggested by SomeoneElse and we’ll see if we can get things dealt with.

I’ve reached out to the mapper as well hoping to work together on a plan for the area and haven’t gotten a response. I live and map in the main area of their edits and there is a lot of extra noise being created with the data they’ve created / modified. It’s difficult to keep track of what’s good and bad with the amount of change that has been disruptive and makes me uncomfortable with the quality of the data set.

In this particular case it isn’t a trivial amount of time to do the cleanup, it’s exponentially longer than if the data had been edited differently. The user is also editing so much data and adding so much information in so many change sets they’re in the top 20 in Canada even among the import accounts.