Proposal:Move mailing list from "required" to "recommended" for new proposals

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Move mailing list from "required" to "recommended" for new proposals
Proposal status: Proposed (under way)
Proposed by: GA Kevin
Draft started: 2025-07-16
RFC start: 2025-07-16


Proposal

Edit the proposal process wiki page with the following changes:

In the "Does it already exist?" section

REMOVE Line 5 It might also be a good idea to send an email to the tagging mailing list, describe the feature you want to tag and see if there are tags in use but hard to find or not yet documented.
REASON Line 4 details communication channel options, including mailing lists already.

In the "Due diligence" section

REPLACE by searching the mailing lists or other forums
WITH by searching the contact channels
REASON Alerts a potential proposal writer of the many ways to get into contact with other contributors.

In the "Creating a proposal" section

REPLACE If you have technical trouble with creating a proposal page, feel free to ask for help by sending a message to the tagging mailing list, you can ask for technical help also elsewhere.
WITH Technical or proposal writing help can be found in the contact channels.
REASON Some questions may be better answered in different contact channels, allowing the proposal writer to choose the one that works best for them.

REMOVE Optionally let people know of your new proposal by subscribing to tagging mailing list and sending a mail.
REASON This is detailed in the contact channels page as well as clarifies this is not the point where you are requesting comment on a proposal.

In the "Mandatory announcements" section

REPLACE

You have to announce your proposal as RFC on the Tagging mailing list and the Community forum (sending on behalf of you is allowed, see below). To send emails to the mailing list, subscribe to the Tagging mailing list first.

Message content:
Forum location: https://community.openstreetmap.org/c/general/tagging/70
Tagging mailing list email: tagging@openstreetmap.org Send (mailto link)
Title: [RFC] Feature Proposal – <PROPOSAL NAME>
Body: <DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSAL> <LINK TO PROPOSAL ON WIKI> Please discuss this proposal on its Wiki Talk page.
Assign the tags (for the forum): wiki-proposal, rfc
If you are not subscribed to the mailing list, add the following text to the topic body:

Please, cross post this announcement on the tagging mailing list on my behalf by sending an email to: tagging@openstreetmap.org
If you are not active on the forum, add the following text to the email body:

Please, cross post this announcement on the community forum on my behalf by posting a message in: https://community.openstreetmap.org/c/general/tagging/70. Also add the tags "wiki-proposal" and "rfc".
Note that it is always the responsibility of the proposal author to make sure it gets cross-posted. If it didn't happen within a few days, they should ask again.

WITH

You must announce your proposal as RFC on the community forum. Please use the template below to ensure the right audience is reached.

Forum Template:
Forum location: https://c.osm.org/tags/c/general/tagging/70/wiki-proposal
Title: [RFC] Feature Proposal – <PROPOSAL NAME>
Body: <DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSAL> <LINK TO PROPOSAL ON WIKI> Please discuss this proposal on it's wiki talk page.
Assign the tags: wiki-proposal, rfc

In the Additional announcements section

REMOVE (not everyone subscribes to the tagging mailing list or is active at the forum)

In the Notify section

REPLACE

You have to announce the vote on the Tagging mailing list and the Community forum (sending on behalf of you is allowed, see below). To send emails to the mailing list,subscribe to the Tagging mailing list first.

Message content:
Forum location: https://community.openstreetmap.org/c/general/tagging/70
Tagging mailing list email: tagging@openstreetmap.org Send (mailto link)
Title: [Voting] Feature Proposal – <PROPOSAL NAME>
Body: Voting has started for <PROPOSAL NAME>. <LINK TO PROPOSAL ON WIKI>
Assign the tags (for the forum): wiki-proposal, vote
If you are not subscribed to the mailing list, add the following text to the topic body:

Please, cross post this announcement on the tagging mailing list on my behalf by sending an email to: tagging@openstreetmap.org
If you are not active on the forum, add the following text to the email body:

Please, cross post this announcement on the community forum on my behalf by posting a message in: https://community.openstreetmap.org/c/general/tagging/70. Also add the tags "wiki-proposal" and "vote".
Note that it is always the responsibility of the proposal author to make sure it gets cross-posed. If it didn't happen within a few days, they should ask again.

Consider sending your vote announcement to some additional contact channels.

WITH

You must announce the vote on the community forum. If you engaged with another contact channel in the RFC stage, it is highly recommended you announce there as well.

Forum Template:
Forum location: https://c.osm.org/tags/c/general/tagging/70/wiki-proposal
Title: [Voting] Feature Proposal – <PROPOSAL NAME>
Body: Voting has started for <PROPOSAL NAME>. <LINK TO PROPOSAL ON WIKI>
Assign the tags: wiki-proposal, vote

In the Post-vote section

REPLACE

It is a good idea to notify people about the result by sending an update to the tagging mailing list and the community forum.

Tagging mailing list
Email address:tagging@openstreetmap.org
<Subject:> "Feature Proposal – Approved – (Feature Name)"
<Subject:> "Feature Proposal – Rejected – (Feature Name)"
On the Community forum it's a good idea to update the voting proposal thread:
Update the body of the thread or add a comment stating if its approved or rejected.

WITH

It is highly recommended to notify the community forum and other contact channels used in the proposal with the results of the vote, regardless of acceptance or rejection. This can be done by the same thread as the vote announcement or other platform-specific ways to link the vote.

In the Approved section

REPLACE it may be worthwhile to send out a new vote request to the mailing list or make a new topic on the Community forum alongside the mailing list.
WITH it may be worthwhile to reach out to former and new contact channels to engage the community for additional votes.

Rationale

This has been proposed before with the major concern at the time being too quick and the community forum being untested long-term. The community forum since has become one of the strongest hubs for OSM community members, especially worldwide. With features such as mailing list mode, notifications, and OAuth with an existing OSM account it makes the use of Discourse easier than when the initial proposal was made. As such, I am again proposing that we edit the proposal process wiki page to reflect this changing dynamic. You will notice mailing lists and other contact channels are highlighted and strongly encouraged to be used, while only the community forum being the required channel.

Features/Pages affected

Proposal Process on the OSM Wiki

External discussions

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.

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