I like @mtank’s suggestion of replacing “Agree?” with “Confirm”. I see two reasons why this swap might reduce the number of faulty agreements.
First, some users might be clicking the “Agree?” button simply to be agreeable, a desirable personality trait. Replacing with “Confirm” invokes an action that is stronger and accurate. Here are definitions of the two verbs that highlight the differences in meaning (from wikidiff):
agree: “To harmonize in opinion, statement, or action; to be in unison or concord; to be or become united or consistent; to concur.”
confirm: “to strengthen; to make firm or resolute”
Several other online dictionaries I checked gave similar meanings. Also, in published papers one usually says something like, “IDs were confirmed by …”.
Second, in some instances the IDer leaves commentary in addition to an ID. In these circumstances the action of the “Agree?” button is unclear. I.e., user might enthusiastically agree with a comment and thus hit the button to indicate that (and not really worry about consequences for ID). I understand, of course, that the “Agree?” button’s function is completely clear to established users. I think that “Confirm ID” (instead of just “Confirm”) would eliminate the vagueness.
Here’s a mock up of an observation of mine:
Note that I think the call-to-action button should not have a question mark. A question mark is too pushy and inviting, I think, especially for less experienced users. A question mark subtly implies that the user likely has the expertise needed to confirm ID. We want users to not click the “Confirm ID” button unless they truly think they know the ID.
In addition to switching to “Confirm ID” buttons, I think it would be good to reduce the number of places where such buttons were displayed. E.g, I actually don’t understand why “Agree?” buttons are displayed on the Dashboard view. If I didn’t know the ID initially, it’s unlikely that my expertise has magically grown since when I first tried to ID the organisms. Before ever hitting “Agree?” I tend to spend hours on BugGuide, books, online keys, etc. … and I do that while on the Observation page itself (so I can view images). Having the “Agree?” buttons everywhere just invites uncritical clicking, I suspect.
As an aside, I agree with many others that the absence of a “Thank you” button is probably driving a lot of the impulse clicks on the “Agree?” button. We are trained by every other social network to thank people … and when we can’t find a button that says that, we opt to at least praise the IDers’ knowledge. It’s the best thank you.