Everything #OpenStreetMap related is welcome: software releases, showing of your work, questions about how to tag something, as long as it has to do with OpenStreetMap or OpenStreetMap-related software.
OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.
Join OpenStreetMap and start mapping: https://www.openstreetmap.org/.
There are many communication channels about OSM, many organized around a certain country or region. Discover them on https://openstreetmap.community/
https://mapcomplete.org/ is an easy-to-use website to view, edit and add points (such as shops, restaurants and others)
https://learnosm.org/en/ has a lot of information for beginners too.
Running around with StreetComplete, the app sometimes tells me to leave a note instead, which I do. Short time later, I receive an email that another person has resolved my note. That's nice, but wouldn't it be better to do it all on my own?
I think I need a more powerful Editor for that, and installed Vespucci. Now I'm scared to break things. What are the next steps, how to proceed?
Vespucci is great once you get the hang of it! No need to be to afraid, as you will get to review your changes before you upload (unlike in StreetComplete). Just abort if there's something weird looking.
Find something you want to fix, and then head to the wiki to see how it's supposed to be mapped. E.g. maybe you want to add a bench. The wiki tells you that it should be either a single node or a way, and that it should be tagged
amenity=bench. (It also lists a bunch of other tags that may be used). Then just try to implement that with Vespucci. Most of it is just tagging. (There is actually a bench preset in Vespucci, so you could just search for it there, but this is the general process.) Refer to the wiki, a lot. We are basically lawyers interpreting the wiki.As a beginner you can also check the "I would like someone to review my changes" box when uploading, if you're unsure of something.
Thank you! I feel this advice will help me when checking out the other resources amazing people have proposed.
And yeah, lots of the hesitation is probably just being afraid of the unknown. Taking a few simple steps should dispell that.
Welcome to the team! And also keep in mind that every mapper makes mistakes from time to time. It's not the end of the world. And if it's really something crucial then it will get fixed very soon ^^