Dear mappers,

(or, more precisely, area managers, as this message discusses the
management of the areas.)

TL;DR Inactive areas will be read-only after two months. (The database
will be checked periodically, starting on January, 28 2023.)

We would like to automate certain parts of area's lifecycle [1].
Particularly, when the area is not mapped anymore, after one month, it
will be removed from the list of the active areas. When there is no
further activity in the consequent month, the area will be removed from
the database and accessible in read-only fashion [2].

(Please, note that "finished areas" page will improve over time -- the
work is ongoing.)

This approach is stricter than the manual one announced earlier [3], and
obsoletes it.

There are three parameters for the discussion: (1) How much of activity
in (2) how much of time is terminal for area to be considered abandoned?
(3) How much of time to keep the area before it becames read-only?

Currently, at least 5 commits in last month is proposed to keep the area
active. (Locking square for mapping and marking it for review are two
commits; changing area’s priority is one commit.) In other words, when
there is less than 5 commits in last month, the area is *marked to be
finished* and became unlisted.

Currently, the area must be marked to be finished *and* there must be no
commit to the area in last month to make the area read-only.

To sum the parameters:

1. 5 commits
2. 1 month
3. 1 month

Do you agree with these parameters? What parameters would you prefer and
why?

Reasoning about automating of certain parts of area's lifecycle and some
use-cases follow.

The reason to adopt such a policy is to prevent new users of the damn
project to contribute to the areas that are no more maintained, to
remove testing areas automatically, to ensure availability and
performance for the work that matters.

First use-case is (small/personal) areas with low activity. These areas
usually have few commits but regular contributions. We hope that three
mapped squares per month are ok, but if not, let us know!

Second use-case is testing areas with few commits and then nothing. It
is perfectly ok to create such an area. However, these needs to be
handled somehow.

Third use-case is one-time mapathon. There are many people mapping in
one area at particular time, but then nothing. Again, it is perfectly ok
to have such an event, and it is our responsibility to help with the
area management.

If you, as manager, are afraid about your area, consider subscribing the
daily RSS updates [4].

We will set up the periodic checks for the abandoned areas in the (UTC)
evening on January, 28 2023. Areas with the priority -10 are already
automatically finished (after one month since the last commit).

Have a nice day,
and keep mapping!


[1]: https://damn-project.org/#area-lifecycle
[2]: https://qa.damn-project.org/finished/
[3]: https://lists.sr.ht/~qeef/damn-project/%3CYXiGy2M3YDL9OeCw%40gmail.com%3E
[4]: https://qa.damn-project.org/rss/

Short reminder that automated daily checks for abandoned areas start
this Saturday night.

I slightly changed the parameters [1]:

1. When the area has *zero* commits in last month (was less than 5
   commits), the priority of that area is set to -10. (This change adds
   one commit to the area.)

2. When the area has priority -10 and has zero commits in last month,
   the area is removed from the database, and available in read-only
   fashion [2].

The list of areas being affected:

- 2405 (5) has only 0 commits
- 2431 (5) has only 0 commits
- 2406 (2) has only 0 commits
- 2407 (2) has only 0 commits
- 2408 (2) has only 0 commits
- 2410 (2) has only 0 commits
- 2412 (2) has only 0 commits
- 2413 (2) has only 0 commits
- 2414 (2) has only 0 commits
- 7102 (1) has only 0 commits
- 2351 (1) has only 0 commits
- 2352 (1) has only 0 commits
- 2386 (1) has only 0 commits
- 2399 (1) has only 0 commits
- 2411 (1) has only 0 commits
- 2418 (1) has only 0 commits
- 2419 (0) has only 0 commits
- 7107 (-8) has only 0 commits
- 2272 (-8) has only 0 commits
- 2392 (-9) has only 0 commits
- 2393 (-9) has only 0 commits

Feel free to subscribe your area's RSS [3] to keep track of the area's
changes.

[1]: https://damn-project.org/#area-lifecycle
[2]: https://qa.damn-project.org/finished/
[3]: https://qa.damn-project.org/rss/