@pietervdvn heya. That's a great essay.
One small point. I run @openbenches. We wouldn't ever try to fork the OSM dataset. And we're not trying to build a separate mapping community.

Indeed, we did try contributing data back to OSM but were told there was no interest.
Our data is deliberately licenced so that it can be pushed into OSM if it is useful.

Happy to chat to see if there's a way to collaborate and make our data more suitable.

@Edent Hi! Sure, I had a look already into this.

I specifically updated https://mapcomplete.osm.be/benches so that it allows to add an inscription, mark it as a memorial and/or mark that it has an integrated artwork.

I also had a look to your data, but it would be really helpful if a 'created_at' or 'last_modified_at' date would be included. Data of >5 years old often needs to be checked again, whereas <1yo might be easier to copy-paste.