Greetings from another fellow volunteer editor. I think the first thing that should be said is thank you for your time you have dedicated to making waze better. I would challenge that this is something also less frequently than it should be said.

I too have had my struggles with speed limits as this is a new, quickly evolving beast. From my limited personal perspective this was not exactly an added feature the champs had requested but rather one waze decided to add and then leave it to us to figure out. Which leaves a HUGE brand new topic to be figured out by the editing community. I have seen some of the debates in the forum about speed limits and they definitely a good read. We struggle with the very real issue of adding information that is accurate to waze to make it a better experience and then waze added this validated option which is not very accurate to say the least for local speed limits using some advance algorithm. I am sure this has caused plenty of frustration.

I agree that there is some room for improved communication on this topic, but would also suggest that even for some Fortune 500 company that were to make some drastic very quick product change like this communication would not be perfect. It seams no matter what industry communication always leaves something to be desired.

I know I am left with many questions too currently. What is the best practice for an area where there are gaps in speed limit data. It seams silly to be driving along and then not have anything especially with the way waze speed limit works you often have zero indicator of you are speeding unless you are actually speeding so one could easily be confused and inadvertently speed. But this is now requiring us to interpret individual state and community laws and have solid footing for what we stand on for these speed limits. What do you do when it's posted one way but not the other?

While I find the wiki the source of truth and the forums the back up (but hard to navigate). GHO or slack (depending on your location) plays an important roll for a way to quickly spread the word to everyone. And hopefully you have an active champ in your GHO to be a conduit of conversation and feedback.

I look forward to getting more guidance in a clear manner as I still struggle with speed limits too and as I said earlier more importantly thank you for your contributions to the WME community.


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From the perspective of a Champ, I can say I agree that if the champs have collectively decided on something or if staff has said something only the champs that needs to be shared, then it should be posted where anyone can view it. As for the scope of the problem I can accept that there is room for improvement, but given the massive extent of the forums and the wiki, I can't really accept that there is no communication.

voludu2 wrote:There is no intentional effort to communicate

Maybe its just semantics, but I do try to communicate whatever I know that is appropriate for mass distribution.

voludu2 wrote: -- gather together the latest news on what issues champs are considering, deciding, deciding not to decide, etc. and creating a digest or news feed that the majorit of editors can easily find and follow.

Why don't we have a communication effort like that? Simply because this is a volunteer effort. So far, nobody has felt inspired to volunteer to take on that communication task.

I'm guessing that there is really much less "news" regarding what issues are being considered and decided by champs that it might appear from the outside. There really isn't that much that is discussed within the Champ ranks that is not being discussed outside as well. Issues such as organization of the Champs group itself and who is being considered for CM, RC, and Champ are unlikely to be discussed publicly.

For issues like speed limit guidance, the discussion among Champs has pretty much mirrored (or maybe it could be said driven by) the discussion among SMs. But in my view there has not been final guidance that has been agreed upon by the Champs. This discussion as might be expected has spurred that effort on however. There is always going to be that twilight time, where we appear to be heading to consensus in the community but the guidance hasn't yet been codified.

Well as far as scattered, I'll leave that for you to solve with the wiki masters.

But I agree that when a Champ says (or someone says a Champ said) this kind of edit should be handled in this way, it should be documented somewhere. We can't all be on the same page, if there is no page.

As a footnote, I'll note my opinion two hours ago that the Champs haven't agreed on SL guidance is obsolete: viewtopic.php?f=129&t=178558

I hear you and understand completely. I've tried to foster a similar discussion in state/nationwide management. In general, community managers seem content with the way things are.
What I've been told is:

1. Forum is the ultimate source. If you don't seen an announcement here, it's not official.
2. Wiki lags behind the Forum, as each decision has to be 'translated' to wiki-readable language with photos, examples etc. Then the wiki has to get approved either globally or nationally. Sometimes policy is made while drafting a wiki, but it still needs to be 'approved' in the forum.
3. If you hear it from a Champ/RC, consider it good info, and probably policy for your region, if not the country.
4. GHOs/Slack teams are great ways to communicate day-to-day, but if you have something of substance to propose/inquire/etc do it in a Forum thread, so that everyone has a chance to give feedback, and we can review it weeks/days/months in the future.
5. If you have a question about something you've heard, ask your RC. They are the first line of communication with the Champs.

As for Speed Limits, there are things happening right now:

• The global wiki language has been proposed and is being discussed by Global Wiki Masters (only wiki masters can comment now, previous public discussions have finished).
• Many regions/states have draft/final speed limit language in the forums/wiki. Check with your state/regional leaders to get links. For example, in the Mid-Atlantic draft wiki language is proposed and up for "public" comment.

CBenson wrote:Well as far as scattered, I'll leave that for you to solve with the wiki masters.

But I agree that when a Champ says (or someone says a Champ said) this kind of edit should be handled in this way, it should be documented somewhere. We can't all be on the same page, if there is no page.

As a footnote, I'll note my opinion two hours ago that the Champs haven't agreed on SL guidance is obsolete: viewtopic.php?f=129&t=178558

I came here to post it, but you beat me to it.

There is information. It is simply difficult to find it and piece it together.
Jr editors who are not rubbing shoulders with the deciders frequently feel like they are in the dark.

It is unintentional.
There is no intentional effort to communicate -- gather together the latest news on what issues champs are considering, deciding, deciding not to decide, etc. and creating a digest or news feed that the majorit of editors can easily find and follow.

Why don't we have a communication effort like that? Simply because this is a volunteer effort. So far, nobody has felt inspired to volunteer to take on that communication task.

Carl -- I know you do post information regularly.

We're a bunch of pretty passionate hobbyists, not a professional organization with an internal communication / PR arm. So it's not surprising that we don't have a "Champs Today" blog keeping everybody informed about what's coming down the pike.

I know a lot of rank 3 editors feel a little lost and confused, and frustrated about that, even if they do monitor a lot of the waze forums. The information is scattered.

I think the big message is -- many senior editors have been in exactly the same position and understand why you feel confused and frustrated sometimes. And if we knew exactly what to do, we might do it. But we're map editors, not journalists.