Make it difficult to remove administrative boundaries

[naoliv]

I see a lot of new users so easily removing/deleting administrative boundaries when using iD (and you can imagine the work that it gives to fix this).

Isn't it possible to make iD give a monster warning saying that the person is deleting an administrative boundarie and that he/she should think a hundred times befode continuing, please?

(I would prefer to make it very difficult for new users to remove them (by having some kind of advanced setting that should be enabled), but please, give at least a warning about this!)

[jfirebaugh]

I understand your concern with ensuring data integrity. However, there's a limit to what can be accomplished with warnings without deterring legitimate edits by new users. We're choosing to err on the side of permissiveness, and rely on the community to gently educate new users when they see problematic edits. Adding "monster" warnings or prohibiting certain actions unless a user checks a "trust me" box somewhere is not something we plan to implement.

[naoliv]

Josm (that is considered an "advanced" editor, supposedly used by more experienced users) gives a warning when removing a way from a relation.
Why can't iD also do the same?

[jfirebaugh]

#1461

[ftrebien]

I agree with naoliv. Of course the community can help educating the user (there should be a link somewhere to let the user reach the community, right?). But does it mean the application shouldn't try at all? Many (if not most) of the edits are by new or casual users. When a new user is criticised on such a mistake, the most common result is to simply leave the community. Having the application tell them what to do and what not to do makes them more confident and thus encourages them to continue contributing. iD is a great editor (simple, comprehensive, easy to understand, runs everywhere) and this is a simple feature that would make it even greater (for helping prevent data loss). I can help working out a brief text for new users explaining how relations work, their pitfalls, who to call when in doubt, and so on.

[nighto]

This is a duplicate of #1461, please close this one.

[naoliv]

It's already closed :-)

[nighto]

Oops, my bad.