Hi I am just wondering if any Australian has gone through the old original talk-au emails. The Talk-au Archives (openstreetmap.org) it puts a lot of context behind OSM policys and standards that are still in practice to this day. One of the earliest subjects is the Australian Road Classification Guidelines and how that was written. [talk-au] Highway Tagging (openstreetmap.org) I have read through every page up until 2018. If anyone else feels like going through it and would like to talk about it feel free to comment. In the coming days and weeks I plan on writing a comprehensive and researchable summary. Its from the original day when the project was a blank canvas, it was illegal to use any source material. Peoples private images were useful for mapping what was “on the ground”.
Hi Slice,
The archives can be a valuable source of information, but it’s important to keep in mind that standards have changed and evolved, just as OSM has… The guidelines are living documents: partly prescriptive, but also descriptive. Looking back to what they were at a particular point in time might be interesting, but is often limited in usefulness. The page has been through significant alterations over almost 15 years, and what was considered “correct” in the past have been superseded by other, more widely accepted techniques
I did a lot of researching in to the history of various tagging guideline pages when I undertook a large cleanup of the wiki pages in 2022. ([talk-au] Anyone mind if I tidy the wiki a bit?)
As part of that process I looked into where the guidelines came from, clarifying contradictory guidelines, and sought out consensus to confirm that the guidelines were reflective of the current commuinity sentiment. This included regular feedback and communication to the wider community before the “cleaned up” guidelines replaced the previous text.
You’re more than welcome to review the archives, but I’m not sure what you’re hoping to achieve to write a comprehensive summary of all past decisions and developments. Are you looking to change the existing consensus of the guidelines? To prove that previous guidelines were incorrect?
hi yes I have seen and read that thread, its unclear what changes you made and if they were agreed upon by the wider Australian community or by the people mentioned in that thread. There was someone that questioned your edits [talk-au] Anyone mind if I tidy the wiki a bit? (openstreetmap.org) and they never received a reply. There is a fundamental issue with the Australia guidelines page and im not sure if that was addressed either. Are you replying here because your edits are open for discussion?
Hi Slice,
Each page was updated after community consultation, both on discord, wiki talk pages, and through the mailing list.
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-au/2022-April/016088.html
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-au/2022-April/016164.html
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-au/2022-April/016193.html
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-au/2022-May/016300.html
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-au/2022-June/016311.html
I kept a record of the changes as I went, and you can view it here:
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Diacritic/Au_Clean/Log
I’m replying here because it’s clear you aren’t satisfied with the guidelines page.
There is a fundamental issue with the Australia guidelines page and im not sure if that was addressed either
What is the fundamental issue?
which page are you referring to here exactly and thanks for the link to that talk-au I have not seen that
I’m speaking generally here about the history of the tagging guideline page, but any look at now “depreciated features” should give you some examples. 
i think we are on a different page here, i am talking about the content (rules and policies) and not the way the information is presented
Give up slice0!
If you have some objection to a particular thing on a wiki page then spell it out in simple language but dont expect folks to trawl through pages of your rants trying to decipher what the actual problem is. Keep it simple.
We will all wait for your “comprehensive and researchable summary.”. Spend your time on that and get it right so we might have some idea what you are really annoyed about. I hope it will appear on your OSM Diary profile and not here.
I suggest this topic gets locked by a moderator before it descends into another long winded rant.
I have made it clear that I personally take offense to the popcorn emote, I consider it cyber bullying which is against the law in Australia. Please delete it or I will file a police report.