I agree. It was kind of frustrating trying to figure out what was going on with my own observations, because I had never paid any attention whatsoever to photo file names. A head’s-up on iNaturalist would have been nice even without a chance for input.
I think when the unintended side-effects are discovered, it would also be nice to have those announced on iNaturalist, too. I don’t mean full-fledged technical discussions, but just a brief heads-up that something may seem different and why.
(It’s possible there were notices on iNaturalist and I missed them.)
(There is nothing like a timely reminder, though, so I still like jdmore’s idea about pop-ups as observations are being made, especially since newer users might not notice general notices or understand their relevance.)