# Agreeing IDs on observations with no media **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [October 8, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247 "2022-10-08T04:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![graysquirrel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/graysquirrel/32/127_2.png) [@graysquirrel](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/graysquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/1 "2022-10-08T04:13:55Z")
Random question for anyone who might know: I’ve noticed a couple of particular users have put a lot of agreeing IDs on observations that have no media. Obviously this not ideal, and is just an attempt to inflate their ID count, since there’s absolutely no way they could know if the observer actually saw that organism or not. But does this have any negative consequences beyond that, if the observations are going to remain casual? It won’t be expanding species ranges or influencing the CV, right? ---
**Author:** ![annkatrinrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@annkatrinrose](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/annkatrinrose)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 4:48am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/2 "2022-10-08T04:48:31Z")
Without pictures, this seems pretty useless. However, I’m not sure what happens if the observers decide to add pictures to these. Would they go straight to RG? ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/3 "2022-10-08T04:49:41Z")
Are you sure they id that when observation was casual? I saw many observations that lost their media, ids added with cv and no photos, and someone agreeing with them. ---
**Author:** ![graysquirrel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/graysquirrel/32/127_2.png) [@graysquirrel](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/graysquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 4:57am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/4 "2022-10-08T04:57:18Z")
I saw at least one where the IDer asked if there was a photo, was told no, and added an ID anyway - but you’re right, it’s very possible most of them were identified when a photo was present but has now been deleted. ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 5:04am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/5 "2022-10-08T05:04:17Z")
That is weird then, unless they were together (but then wouldn’t be asking about photos), it doesn’t affect the cv, as you said maybe it will affect which species are seen nearby if id is wrong? Not sure if casuals are used for that. But I have no idea why would somebody do that. ---
**Author:** ![annkatrinrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@annkatrinrose](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/annkatrinrose)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/6 "2022-10-08T14:07:08Z")
I don’t think casual is used for ‘seen nearby’ determinations. If that was the case, I think we’d all be seeing a lot more cultivated species being suggested by CV. ---
**Author:** ![jdmore](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jdmore/32/1116_2.png) [@jdmore](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jdmore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/7 "2022-10-08T20:41:31Z")
> [@graysquirrel](#): > > agreeing IDs on observations that have no media. Obviously this not ideal, and is just an attempt to inflate their ID count Or it could just be a friend, not motivated by ID counts. But still not ideal, for sure. > [@Identification Etiquette on iNaturalist - Wiki](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/identification-etiquette-on-inaturalist-wiki/1503/184): > > However, I’m not sure what happens if the observers decide to add pictures to these. Would they go straight to RG? Yes, I think they would, if missing media were the only deficiency in the data. One way to avoid this might be vote Yes on “Can the community ID still be improved” so that it goes to “Needs ID” instead if a photo is added. [EDIT: moved this question to its own topic] ---
**Author:** ![F.S](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/f.s/32/70608_2.png) [@F.S](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/F.S)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/8 "2022-10-08T21:49:17Z")
It’s also possible that the user who confirmed the ID was present when the uploader observed the unphotographed organism, so he can testify its veridicity with firsthand knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![dlevitis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dlevitis/32/78796_2.png) [@dlevitis](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/dlevitis)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/9 "2022-10-08T22:35:55Z")
Much of this is based on iNat’s new feature: IDs based on smell. A user with the right equipment can record an organism’s smell and another user with the proper equipment can take a sniff and make an ID. Of course to those of us without compliant olfactory replicators it will seem like there is no media attached. ---
**Author:** ![jasonhernandez74](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jasonhernandez74/32/33615_2.png) [@jasonhernandez74](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jasonhernandez74)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/10 "2022-10-09T00:41:37Z")
Were there any explanatory notes on these observations? I have, when appropriate, confirmed an ID where I could not confidently identify from the picture alone, but could do so from the combination of the picture and the notes. I can, therefore, conceive of the possibility of identifying from only the notes. ---
**Author:** ![0x4372616967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/0/e19adc/32.png) [@0x4372616967](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/0x4372616967)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2022, 3:35am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/11 "2022-10-09T03:35:03Z")
> [@F.S](#): > > It’s also possible that the user who confirmed the ID was present when the uploader observed the unphotographed organism, so he can testify its veridicity with firsthand knowledge. Ages ago someone flagged a supporting ID because the observation had no media. When I checked the observations of the person supporting the ID they had the same organism/date/location in their list also without media. So I think this is plausible (and as far as I know ok although perhaps not ideal) ---
**Author:** ![graysquirrel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/graysquirrel/32/127_2.png) [@graysquirrel](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/graysquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/12 "2022-10-09T16:59:37Z")
Ahh I should have guessed! You just scratch the screen a bit and take a sniff, right? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/agreeing-ids-on-observations-with-no-media/36247/13 "2022-12-08T16:59:49Z")
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