I apologise if it had been discussed before, but my search result couldn’t find any.
So, as the title suggests, what is the general consensus of staged observations?
Specifically in regard of using the same individual organism* be it trained/pet or captured wild individual (identifiable by the patterns) and put it at different places and times to produce tens of observations that simulated in-situ encounters?
Thanks,
salazar_ioria
“staged” could mean a lot of things. could you be more specific without linking to or giving away specific observations? Or if you want to link to specific observations, please submit a support ticket so staff can take a look: https://help.inaturalist.org/support/tickets/new
I’m not too comfortable yet in disclosing the account, but basically an account posted hundreds of observations of 1 species of reptile, which shouldn’t have raised any flag.
But what raised my concerns is how lethargic the animal looked (compared to what you’d expect from them in the wild) in majority of the obs, so I checked some of them and noticed based on the animal’s pattern that it’s actually one and the same individual.
Hence the possibility they were staged using the same animal.
Beside my using the animal to stage the obs, I’m also concerned the sheer number could skew the data from legitimate in-situ obs (if it’s even possible).
Anyway, I think I should try submit a support ticket after I compile the evidences.
Thanks a lot for your response and the link.