Hi Michael
This being said, my main concern with « too precise » mapping is data maintenance over time. For a lot of objects, « Ground Truth » is not a permanent feature! For example, forest limits evolve over time
This is true, but does that change for less exact (but still outlining) areas? I'd assume in almost every case you'd simply redraw that section of the area with appropriate tools, and won't move single nodes around. And then it doesn't matter how detailed an outline is.
I tend towards detailed mapping of forest outlines (although not as detailed as some other people are doing it). I don't see any harm.
Danilo
PS: I hope everyone mapping forests knows the "Improve Way Accuracy" tool of JOSM :)