4 ms·

I wish the readme explained what this project actually was instead of the incredibly vague and unhelpful "self host the entire planet".

basemi 2y ago
Found little more info in homepage https://github.com/markuman/sms https://github.com/markuman/sms
- fodkodrasz 2y ago
  Still barely more detailed. The problem with the whole OSM ecosystem is that it expects a lot of domain knowledge of technologies, formats, tools, their relations and features, limitations, that is rarely explained well, or explanaitions are often terribly outdated. Feels much like the JavaScript Frontend frameworks for an outsider, it is a lot of effort to get to an overview and understanding, despite the concepts are not new.
  - davidy123 2y ago
    Usually this is a sign of a project that isn't ready for a lot of attention. It's very brave and a little bit stupid to offer Open Source to the world (especially without a sustainability plan), if you put a lot of effort into 'marketing' at an early stage you've probably just overpromised to people not focused on that domain, won't be able to deliver, and will burn out, and it will become yet another abandoned project. Perhaps in a few years, as the project picks up uses and contributors, it will get its own website and support network and be easy to understand and use by "anyone."
    - bspammer 2y ago
      I can’t tell if your comment was meant to be ironic but OSM has been around for 20 years, and its data is used by billions of people.
      - davidy123 2y ago
        The comment was about https://github.com/markuman/sms https://github.com/markuman/sms, not OSM.
    - Guvante 2y ago
      I don't think this project is looking for a lot of attention. It is more like a sample of cool stuff you can do.
      - fodkodrasz 2y ago
        I agree, but still 1-2 paragraph about why this was made, what is for laymans, and what it is in terms of OSM ecosystem. Possibly my extrovert self makes it natural to write similar intros to repos I make public. (I even used to blog!)
PontifexMinimus 2y ago
> incredibly vague and unhelpful As is very common with projects on Github. They should have a paragraph at the start explaining simply what they do.
- MrGilbert 2y ago
  And a screenshot for every project with a UI. I‘d love to see that more often.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- totaldude87 2y ago
  Copilot could easily scan and auto generate the read me.
- toolz 2y ago
  They 'could' have a paragraph at the beginning to help potential users understand the purpose of the project. It might seem inconsequential, but maintainers often deal with a lot of angry entitled users and it could be helpful to stay away from language that implies that the people giving away their code for free (and for fun) have any obligation to provide anyone anything.
  - squarefoot 2y ago
    True on principle, but if an explanation or a screenshot that costs 5 hours to make would prevent replying or even just reading support requests for 6 hours, I would call it a victory.
EGreg 2y ago
That’s true, I was super confused what “self-host” entailed. They should go into detail explaining that. Leaflet? Because I understood about “the whole planet” in the context of OSM.
Aachen 2y ago
Anyone looking for this will already be in map/OpenStreetMap context. That people originating from StumbleUpon or a niche little place called ycombinator news are confused is not too surprising tbh: that very likely wasn't the audience they had in mind
- input_sh 2y ago
  Considering the title starts with "Show HN" and that the HN username is very closely tied to the GitHub username, I'm gonna go out on a limb here by saying HN is indeed the target audience.
rizky05 2y ago
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deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

basemi 2y ago

Found little more info in homepage https://github.com/markuman/sms https://github.com/markuman/sms

fodkodrasz 2y ago
Still barely more detailed. The problem with the whole OSM ecosystem is that it expects a lot of domain knowledge of technologies, formats, tools, their relations and features, limitations, that is rarely explained well, or explanaitions are often terribly outdated. Feels much like the JavaScript Frontend frameworks for an outsider, it is a lot of effort to get to an overview and understanding, despite the concepts are not new.
- davidy123 2y ago
  Usually this is a sign of a project that isn't ready for a lot of attention. It's very brave and a little bit stupid to offer Open Source to the world (especially without a sustainability plan), if you put a lot of effort into 'marketing' at an early stage you've probably just overpromised to people not focused on that domain, won't be able to deliver, and will burn out, and it will become yet another abandoned project. Perhaps in a few years, as the project picks up uses and contributors, it will get its own website and support network and be easy to understand and use by "anyone."
  - bspammer 2y ago
    I can’t tell if your comment was meant to be ironic but OSM has been around for 20 years, and its data is used by billions of people.
    - davidy123 2y ago
      The comment was about https://github.com/markuman/sms https://github.com/markuman/sms, not OSM.
  - Guvante 2y ago
    I don't think this project is looking for a lot of attention. It is more like a sample of cool stuff you can do.
    - fodkodrasz 2y ago
      I agree, but still 1-2 paragraph about why this was made, what is for laymans, and what it is in terms of OSM ecosystem. Possibly my extrovert self makes it natural to write similar intros to repos I make public. (I even used to blog!)

PontifexMinimus 2y ago

> incredibly vague and unhelpful As is very common with projects on Github. They should have a paragraph at the start explaining simply what they do.

MrGilbert 2y ago
And a screenshot for every project with a UI. I‘d love to see that more often.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
totaldude87 2y ago
Copilot could easily scan and auto generate the read me.
toolz 2y ago
They 'could' have a paragraph at the beginning to help potential users understand the purpose of the project. It might seem inconsequential, but maintainers often deal with a lot of angry entitled users and it could be helpful to stay away from language that implies that the people giving away their code for free (and for fun) have any obligation to provide anyone anything.
- squarefoot 2y ago
  True on principle, but if an explanation or a screenshot that costs 5 hours to make would prevent replying or even just reading support requests for 6 hours, I would call it a victory.

EGreg 2y ago

That’s true, I was super confused what “self-host” entailed. They should go into detail explaining that. Leaflet? Because I understood about “the whole planet” in the context of OSM.

Aachen 2y ago

Anyone looking for this will already be in map/OpenStreetMap context. That people originating from StumbleUpon or a niche little place called ycombinator news are confused is not too surprising tbh: that very likely wasn't the audience they had in mind

input_sh 2y ago
Considering the title starts with "Show HN" and that the HN username is very closely tied to the GitHub username, I'm gonna go out on a limb here by saying HN is indeed the target audience.

rizky05 2y ago

[dead]

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]