2018 saw 794 new users in Washington State, up just slightly from 787 in 2017.

Of those nearly 800 new contributors, a welcome message was sent to 693 users. I gave up at some point sending to obvious SEO editors since they never respond or for that matter bother read any OSM wiki articles on how to edit.

Of those that did receive a welcome message, 27 replied. This number is down considerably from previous years. However, they have been responding to changeset comments. 82 new users replied to a changeset comment that either I or someone else left. One feature I’d like to see added to the changeset comments is to be able to get notified when I don’t get a response. It usually means what I suggested fixed never got fixed.

The Welcome Message is relatively unchanged from previous years. I do think it’s time for a change. I’d like to add some hints on what and where to map. It’s on my todo list for 2019.

I want to thank Wille Marcel at Mapbox for OSMCHA. One of the latest improvement is to add users to a personal watch list. I recently started adding new users that have questionable first edits. Okay - the edits aren’t questionable, they are just bad. OSMCHA now allows watching for repeat vandalism.

If you are welcoming new users, I’d like to hear your experiences. Just drop a comment below.

Happy New Years, Clifford Snow