For me, as stated last year:
1. I have probably in the past added too many nodes because of the way I was mapping (clicking rapidly on the mouse while moving the cursor along the shape of the wooded area). This is not a good practice but isn't causing any damage to the project and I have changed the way I map since (basically being more mindful of every node) following our discussion.
2. There is absolutely no reason not to map wood patches provided that the available imagery allows that. The simplification is a renderer matter.
3. Of course, anything in OSM should be improved and modified, once a better source exists. This applies to forests, buildings and any other elements. However, replacing detailed areas with untrue simpler geometries or with points when there are no ways to see where the individual tunks are located simply constitutes a regression.
In addition, in the discussion this year, false allegations have been made, suggesting that I was using automated tools and that I was mapping "arbitrarily". Both these claims are obviously wrong. I take care to always document the source in almost every way I trace and I have even at times produced
my own aerial imagery. Consequently, while I am always happy to explain what I do and how I do and accept legitimate criticism, I can only ignore the authors of such claims if they don't believe me.
Nice Sunday to all. :-)