Some users’ settings only allow site curators to add observation fields, for example.
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I can say that most of my observations that have had IDs have the same few dozen IDers, and I myself have over a thousand IDs on Araucaria
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My oldest Needs ID observation is a plant from 2021: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/75721396
And I’m not complaining, because I’ve seen many older overlooked observations. Overall my account is 44.8% research grade, with arthropods at 42.1% and plants at 49.7%.
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I’m at 47% RG out of verifiable observations, which is incredibly surprising to me given how many lichens, weeds, flies, and blurry birds I upload.
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Consider yourself fortunate. I’m at 34.5% RG, and it’s not because the photos are exceptionally awful.
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Looks like you’ve been on iNat for less than a year.
I’d suggest spending a few years using the site, learning as much about it, how it works, the tools, appropriate actions, etc before really delving into the curator side of things.
I’d also strongly suggest not going out actively looking for things to flag. Start out simply using the site and only flagging things that you come across in the normal use of the site, and only flagging after serious consideration at that. Actively trying to search out things to flag, especially when someone has using the site for such a short amount of time runs the risk of creating a bunch of errors and making a lot of work for everyone else.
If you’re an expert at some taxon, you say you’re 16 so that’s unlikely, but is certainly a possibility, then focus more on helping to resolve flags on the taxon you know well. It’s the fixing of things that is the most beneficial.
Take the time to learn the community, the way things work, to be confident without being overconfident in your assessments, and only then try to move on to being a curator.
If it were up to me I’d have a minimum level of time on the site, in addition to the other engagement metrics, before anyone could request to be a curator, unless they were a proven expert in their field, and even then it would be wise to ensure that their behavior and knowledge of the site and the community was sufficient to engage in a productive manner.
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I really appreciate you typing all that out. You really helped me out here just as several different people have. I manly identify birds on iNat. The reason is is because I’m a birder and I’m pretty good at identifying many different bird species in North America.
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Perhaps you can help with broader IDs of birds, not in North America.
Since North American birds are surely well identified on iNat?
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An elegant understatement, Diana. North American birds are THE best taxa to post on iNat, as you know.
I find it satisfying to know that just by pushing an unknown on US soil to “bird”, within minutes, there will be a flurry of IDs that get it to species, with multiple confirming IDs.
Compared to you in Africa, where we might have to wait . . . decades? for an obscure species to be described . . .
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Bird in Africa - works like a charm - 10 minutes to RG ;~))
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Bird in Africa . . . 10 minutes to Research Grade!
Let’s say you wanted to add the maximum value possible to iNatters. What would you become an expert in? General botany?
You don’t want to become so specialized that your taxon is rarely posted, and you also don’t add much value by being the thousandth bird expert in your region . . .
No offence intended to bird experts. You do you!
Just approaching IDs from a purely utilitarian standpoint . . . What would you suggest?
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Great suggestion! Since I don’t know a whole lot about birds in those areas would it be fine if I used the suggested bird photo when identifying? Obviously I would make sure each bird matches with the bird shown. Thanks!
I’d be cautious and go a step or two further than just making sure the bird in the observation matches the photo in the taxon iNat suggests. As I’m sure you know, there are likely to be look-alike pairs or trios of birds (Empidonax flycatchers, anyone?) that are very hard to distinguish. If you look at the taxon page for the suggested species and examine the compiled Similar Species, you’re likely to get an idea of what species are hard to distinguish. Even better, get a field guide or find a website for birds of South Africa or wherever. Look at Research Grade observations in the region you’ve chosen and get a feel for what other identifiers find easy or hard to ID. Plus, looking at RG observations is likely to turn up useful comments from IDers.
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Such great advice!
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Play with the filters. I have set this to Pre-Maverick birds - with 2 against 1 IDs - which are now trapped at Class Aves. You can start with a location which gives you less than the 6K waiting.
I suggest you Mark as Reviewed where you don’t know. Don’t waste your time and effort on blurry - Is it A Bird?
But there will surely be some, where, as a birder, you can help.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=156949&taxon_id=3&hrank=class&lrank=class&place_id=1
actually since so many obs are in the USA - that is still 3K. Go for it?
Remember - your ID carries your name - so should be able to explain - why this is a cormorant, or an owl, or a duck, or a …
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Very well said! Y’all have helped me so much 
!
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Maybe Chironomidae (non-biting midges)? 165157 observations worldwide with only 6.2% of those at RG. Half those observations are in the US.
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I suppose that depends on what you consider adding the most ‘value’.
From my experience working in tropical areas in developing nations, there are a lot of observations, especially of plants and arthropods, that go without IDs in SE Asia, South America, and Africa.
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I expect the most valuable identifications are for obscure groups in tropical countries. But those are so valuable because they require a lot of off-site knowledge from personal experience or difficult-to-access academic papers. Props to the identifiers who go sludging through museum databases and papers in foreign languages to identify flies or beetles in countries they’ve never been to.
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Just a note that for those who live in these countries, these languages are not foreign, nor are the distances insurmountable. They may also be familiar with local repositories, full of academic papers and other resources not behind paywells or other restrictions.
Perhaps the most useful person to iNaturalist would be someone who helps encourage and cultivate local-to-other-areas identifiers, so that we need not rely on all the good folks from one region to identify for the rest of the world.
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