Just wondering if there are any established guidelines. Ran across an observation recently involving someone “jokingly” pointing a firearm at a small organism, and it hit my probably-not-appropriate-for-iNat instincts. Then again, I’ve seen a fair few deer hunt photos with the rifle included in the…

Please stay on topic. As for weapons in photos, I think it just has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. A deer trophy photo with someone holding a rifle seems fine. Someone pointing a gun at someone else in a threatening manner, not fine. Is the post about the weapon, or is it about the organi…

[image] DianaStuder: weapons are not a joke True, but where do you draw the line? Can spear guns be shown? Mouse traps? Fly swatters? Clam rakes?

I would mark those all as Reviewed and move on to more interesting obs. To be honest, I don’t remember seeing any. Dead fish - yes, but not The Weapon.

While I agree that this doesn’t sound like an optimal observation, I don’t personally think there’s an issue that merits further action unless there’s some kind of threat to a human implied (either in the picture or directed towards another user) or some other violation of the community guidelines. …

Is a mouse in a mouse trap ‘captive’? ;-)

Not in my book, but the purists seem to think that if an animal is captured then it is a captive. And if it’s a captive then it is in captivity and that means any observation of it is casual.

Even being in a cage doesn’t necessarily mean that an animal is non-wild and in “captivity.” It’s easy enough to imagine a situation where animals are captured and temporarily held in an enclosure of some kind while they are being weighed, measured and marked and then later released.

Which should be noted in the observation. Some people enjoy picking apart every thread that doesn’t suit their egoic need.

I think the issue is weapons designed for use against humans, where the weapon is not naturally part of the scene (so hunters with guns, mice in traps, ect are fine, and fly swatters or clam rakes really aren’t weapons in the human context) Where I’m thinking of an issue is if someone photographed a…

[image] insectobserver123: put a pistol in the frame for no good reason testing the waters. Will iNat let me get away with this? And this ??

I’m not sure I know what you mean?

Any guidelines about images including weapons?

Curators

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Do Observations of Cultural Items Made With Organisms Go Against iNat Guidelines? General	32	966	February 18, 2025
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Any guidelines about images including weapons?

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