Agreeing with experts and "research grade"

This is a human problem. You could take this discussion and apply it to any other human endeavour with very minor changes. There is no solution to people who don’t care or only care about getting high numbers or being on the top of lists. Changes to the site won’t change their priorities, only the difficulty in using the site. There is a solution to people who don’t know, and that is the many members who take the time to educate people about the site and its purpose. In all the time I have used the site I have only found one person who refused to believe they had an ID wrong even when an expert confirmed it. Most people are happy to listen, and learn. In fact, I have found, that when I explain the true purpose of the site - that it isn’t just an ID app like making your phone into a flashlight - they get more excited and are more eager to learn.I have benefited from the knowledge and kindness of many people on iNat who were willing to help me learn. I mostly do basic ID’s of the unknowns for people who are just starting, and I do my best to educate them, and to help with their ID’s. This takes time, but it is the only solution I can see which will get the most people using the site correctly and have them enjoy using it. Perhaps tweaks to the site will work, but not if they make it more difficult for members to help others learn to use the site, and learn how to ID correctly. A willingness to be wrong is the quality we should be helping to create in all members. We all makes mistakes. I leave all of mine so others can see that everyone will make mistakes. I have made many ID errors. I fix them quickly and always try to learn from them for next time. If most members are doing this, there isn’t a big problem to solve. Engaging new people with the site, educating them about how it works, instilling a culture of respectful disagreement without blaming or disparaging mistakes but educating instead is what will make the site work. Humans created iNaturalist and it is humans interacting and communicating who will make it work best.

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