I added some features several days ago. When I log into the map and look at the area, the edits do not appear. However, when I log in to “edit” they appear so obviously they were saved to the database. What did I do wrong?
Clarification: they show up, but different details at different zoom levels. I get 3 different versions depending on whether I am zoomed to 30 feet, 50 feet or 100 feet. See http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/39.4628/-76.9689 and look at the footpaths to the west of the stream. To clarify, I want to understand my mistake so I can correct it.
Just wait a while. The map on openstreetmap.org usually updates pretty quickly, but sometimes takes a while to update. Sometimes a few hours or days. And the tiles at different zoom levels are updated separately, so things may show on one zoom, but not another.
You might also be looking at a copy cached by your browser. Pressing Shift+Refresh might help.
Your “mistake” is just that you’re not patient enough 
Short explanation on what happens when you “edit OSM”: You upload the data to the OSM server, which publishes the current OSM database. Now tile servers take this new data and render images calles “tiles”. This takes some time. Even for the main-style on osm.org sometimes up to two days, though mostly just a few minutes.
ok, I just wanted to be sure I hadn’t hosed up the database. Thanks for talking me down off the ledge.
Cool, thanks for the response i have the same problem! 