Add "Select this taxon and comment" button next to "Select this taxon" in Suggestions tab of Identify

Feature Requests
1

Platform(s): website

URLs: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify

Description of need:
Add “Select this taxon and comment” button next to “Select this taxon”.
This improves the identification workflow.

Feature request details:
In my workflow, I often look up taxa in the suggestion tab. Having done so, I would then like to select the taxon and write a comment. My suggestion would be to add a button next to “Select this taxon”. See the screenshot with the mock-up button below. This button would lead to a place where the identifier can type a comment and then save the ID with the comment.

My workflow when wanting to ID & comment is currently:

  1. selecting the taxon
  2. clicking the dropdown arrow on the ID that shows up
  3. selecting “edit”
  4. waiting for the new tab to load
  5. writing a comment
  6. saving the comment
  7. closing the tab

This is rather inconvenient. The “Select taxon and comment” button would significantly improve the workflow for selecting taxa and adding comments.

Screenshot 2023-11-05 154508_doodle
Screenshot 2023-11-05 154508_doodle1917×944 157 KB

What do you think of this idea?

I am looking forward to your constructive comments and suggestions.

2

Why don’t you just hit the “c” key to add a comment right there in the ID modal? Is it important that the comment is attached to the ID?

3 Likes
4

To elaborate some more: In the notification dropdown an identification with a comment looks the same as an ID without a comment. A standalone comment looks different:
image
So standalone comments are not as easily overlooked as comments that are “hidden” within IDs.

6 Likes
5

An alternative would be that the button remains the same, but a window appears that allows the user to enter a comment before committing the ID.

6

To add to what schoenitz said, ID-embedded comments are also not searchable from https://www.inaturalist.org/comments

12

I’m not sure that would help the workflow as it would require you to click ‘no comment’ every time you don’t want to leave one.

Additionally, regardless of several remarks pointing out the value of non-embedded comments

I often still find myself relying on embedd comments. I may want to add a quick note to an ID without necessarily drawing specific attention to the comment, which might only be valuable in combination with the ID anyway.

The added value for me is that it reads more as a comment on my own ID than on the observation in general, and it keeps the comment section more cleaned up. In the current situation I would be more likely to not post a comment at all than to place a comment as separate from the ID. I am not sure that is enough to warrant a new functionality, but I do think it would provide additional value.