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There's currently a wave of bots trying to vandalize #OpenStreetMap by replacing names (and russian langauge names) with anti-russian slogans. The #OSM DWG has blocked 5,000+ accounts already

😢 This is not the way people!

e.g. <https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/how-about-limit-new-accounts/101656/49>
#Ukraine #Russia #RussianInvasion


How about limit new accounts?

In case people haven’t noticed, there’s another wave of vandalism ongoing. I’m in the process of blocking the accounts that I can identify (currently ~4500, but may increase), and a number of other people have reverted obviously problematic changese…
OpenStreetMap Community Forum
#openstreetmap #OSM #Russia #Ukraine #russianinvasion
Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups  
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OSM data should ideally not be vandalised, but I guess the best way to solve this would be to help Ukraine defend and win as soon as possible.
grin
grin  
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do you believe that's the responsibility of OSM?
Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups  
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Don't think I was mentioning any responsibility there.
grin
grin  
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"the best way to solve this..." you wrote in an OSM thread. Or whom have you advised that?
Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups  
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@grin I did not advise it to anybody specific, don't think so.

Could it be that you want to say something specific, but try to avoid saying it openly?

@grin
grin
grin  
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@richlv I believe my problem is that you wanted to say a (political) sentiment in general but you have done it in the context of a specific project (OSM) which has (or should have) nothing to do with politics. As an OSM editor I firmly would like to reject OSM (and it's editors as such) trying to "help Ukraine defend and win".
(As a private person I wholly support that, but not in these 🧵s and not around #osm tags.)
That is my point of view.
#OSM @Rihards Olups
grin
grin  
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@richlv Another possible problem of mine is that the Russian OSM editors I know are not evil people. I believe most of them was not asked whether they want to born in Russia or not. 🤷
@Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups  
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@grin It's actually very simple, and we've been through this many times before.
You either support the victim, or you support the aggressor.

“Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than “politics.” They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.”
― Naomi Shulman

@grin
grin
grin  
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@richlv I respect your **opinions**. I hope you are also understood what I have told you, and seriously consider it.
@Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups  
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@grin We likely have a lot of common in OSM, opensource etc.
I value personal integrity and morals high enough not to ignore or minimise an invasion that is rife with murders, rapes, mutilations, torture, castrations, beheadings and more. Staying silent about a sadistic genocide for "political" reasons is low.
@grin
grin
grin  
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@richlv You seem to believe that "not ignoring or minimising" means that you talk about it everywhere, regardless of place, topic, people, goals, projects, anything. You keep talking about it, you keep it getting involved everywhere you go. You seem to think that the opposite of "staying silent" is "talk about it all the time everywhere".
I believe that is a significant difference between us, including the meaning of the words "ignore" and "silent about".
@Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups
Rihards Olups  
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@grin Not quite. It was a very specific, related topic.

The tactics you used - intentionally or not - often are associated with people in repressive regimes or intentionally trying to minimise the wrongdoings by diluting or shifting the topic.
For example, in USSR/russia many people "don't talk about the politics" out of fear. Nowadays "it's politics" is also a way to avoid saying "I do not support Ukraine".

We can figure this out with a few very simple questions.

@grin
grin
grin  
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@richlv I don't see any progess in reading what I write from your side.
There's no "tactics": you see putins in every corner, and you feel entitled to call them out. Everyone's russian agent who does not agree with you and your point of view.
Let's agree to disagree. No point going on in circles.
Have a nice day!
@Rihards Olups
grin
grin  
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@ladybuginthemug I suggest you to hate politicians not people. But in the end it's you who decide what you want to think.
Most bots are operated by a few single idiots.
Siff
Siff  
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While I don’t endorse these actions, they bring awareness. While everyone/most people in the western world know about the atrocities committed by Russia, the Russians and the Belorussians don’t, and every little thing that could deliver the real story to them is worth trying. The #OSM, I guess has backups and could be restored, people’s lives can’t.
#OSM
grin
grin  
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@Siff Would you say it would be proper to replace all mountain names with "Слава Україні"? I would guess you are not. That'd be the same thing, just wider impact. I do not think that's OSM job, and I do not think OSMF could handle the effects of OSM start making political statements.
@Siff
Siff
Siff  
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@grin Please read what I wrote: I didn’t say that this is a good idea - I provided a point of view. Here is another: damaging the names of the streets of the country you are at war with is nothing compared with having your streets and houses bombed and your people killed!

And, just to be clear: I don’t think that this was the correct thing to do and I sympathize with the volunteers that have to fix it!

@grin
grin
grin  
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@Siff I do not think this is the way to bring awareness, I do not think this is a correct way to support any agenda, and generally, I believe that any kind of vandalism for whatever ideology or reason is just that: vandalism. I do not really care about the explanation: it is a big pile of shit in the middle of the room, and we have to clean it and that is all. I am not interested about why it's so good for us to have shit in the room. Or it's "meaning". It's shit.
That's my view.
@Siff
Siff
Siff  
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@grin Again, you are reading something that I didn’t write.

I’m sorry that you have to fix the mess, but your anger is pontes in the wrong direction.

@grin
grin
grin  
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@ladybuginthemug Thank you for sharing your political views.

My view is that when I do OSM I do not want to do politics, and when I do politics I do not edit OSM. I really really prefer to separate them, because OSM is a GIS/mapping project which is mostly about facts, not opinions and agendas. I like it that way. You can not convince me otherwise, don't waste your time trying.

⇧