Hello

I am writing to you in my role as a member of the OSMF Data Working Group which deals with conflicts between users, vandalism, and similar issues.

We have had a complaint because you seem to be removing a lot of correct names. I don’t know if this is by accident or for some other reason. For example here:

osm.org/node/599046987/history

you have removed the Russian, French, English, German, and a couple other names from the town node, and re-set int_name to be the same as the local name. This is not correct, and it has been pointed out to you in a changeset comment, yet you neither fixed the error, nor responded to the changeset comment.

Or here:

osm.org/node/2398087810/history

I think you should have at least demoted the name “Hemrin” to a name:en or int_name tag, instead of deleting it altogether.

Names in other languages are not “wrong names” (your changeset comments often read “fix wrong name”), they are different names for the same thing, and they have a place in OSM. It is ok if the “name” tag reflects the name used locally, but if the entity does have a name in other languages too, then these have a place in OSM and should not be deleted.

Please be more careful with your edits in the future and try not to lose valuable information when you change a name. Of course if a name is really wrong it should be removed, but if the name is simply an old name or English name or internationally used name, then it is worth recording in OSM.

Thank you
Frederik Ramm
OSMF Data Working Group