So…I wrote a script to send messages to #OpenStreetMap users en masse.
I’ve been using and refining it for many months. It has progress reporting, and it automatically waits and resumes when it hits the API rate limit…I’ve used it to send mapping party invitations to thousands of users.
I’m also planning to extend it, so it can…
- …send messages to people in or around specific areas
- …send messages to all users who have clicked “Attend” on an OSM Calendar event
- …send messages to new OSM users
- …send messages to OSM users who have made their 10th edit.
Should I release it as freedom-respecting software? (a.k.a. libre or “open source” software) [1]
On one hand, it could be used for spamming users.
On the other hand…
- It’s very handy for mapping party invitations. We’ve been able to reach out to so many people thanks to this script. OSM DMs are also sent to users’ emails.
- Even if I don’t release it, it’s not like someone else couldn’t write their own such script against the OSM messaging API…
- If used for spam, there’s a button to mute/block users on OSM…and the operations team @osm_tech could just ban the spammers.
- It’s written in a rather unpopular language (Common Lisp), which could - I’m guessing - also deter spammers. Currently, it can only be used from a Lisp REPL, not a UNIX shell. (I could always implement a shell interface too…but for interactive use, Emacs + SLIME blows any shell out of the water.)
I guess there’s also a third way - make it a private repo and give read access to the code to established members of the #OSM community on request.
[1] Probably under the AGPL…let me know if you recommend a different license.