I would like it if curators were allowed to add Authorities for Conservation Statuses - this would be particularly useful where NatureServe and IUCN are not up-to-date on state-level listed statuses.
I think this list could grow to epic length (I think it’s already unwieldy and random), much like the one for new taxon source, so I’d prefer it if we either a) keep it like it is or b) remove the “Authority” field and just have users write in a URL or name a source.
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Is there a way to have where the authority field isn’t a pre-filled dropdown? It would be nice if we could just write out the source, so other curators could note the authority with a quick review. This could help when looking through species that fall under certain authorities that have just made updates/reviews that made need attention.
Otherwise I personally would prefer to just rid of authorities all together and go with the url links. Im not a fan of how it says the curator who added the conservation status will be the authority. It felt, to me at least, that I was deviating from an “approved list” and could be held to explain my reasoning for following an authority not on the list (though this has not happened and I’ve obscured many species on state levels this way). But I also never found specific guidelines for small authorities that I recall, so I would not know how to go about defending it as a followable authority.
Just my thoughts.
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