what about making observations during a blitz captive by default, they can be changed by the observer or and ID’er? or when groups are created you can select an option that makes you observations casual (like you can select an option that you will be observing on campuses or in urban areas majority of the time then you observations are captive by default)
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The issue with that is the other side of the “INaturalist coin” that dlevitis points out, Bioblitz events are often the first and best introduction to structured wildlife engagement that many people have, especially those who live in more urban areas where their chief exposure to nature is Rock Doves and Stink Bugs. Putting roadblocks up between people and that resource directly harms the personal connection aspect that INaturalist aims to foster. Without that connection the data set becomes just another pile of data that scientists can use to point at and everyone else can ignore because they don’t care. Most people I personally know who Inat, excluding those who went to school for the natural sciences, got started by attending a bioblitz. These people may start out posting poor records but they normally get better pretty quickly.
I agree the problems we are all discussing are legitimate issues, but I also think that putting barriers on how people can engage with INaturalist does more harm than good.
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Bottom line for quality vs quantity is going to boil down to (I don’t want to write “quality of” but need to) volunteers available, tools, and training.
iNat has a page for BioBlitzs - https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000194866-bioblitz-guide - but how many actually read and employ it? Perhaps some wording could be edited or added to point to end results depend on training/eduating and data input from the start. Also, maybe make it easier to find.
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I wonder whether it would help if bioblitz organizers arrange a sort of “tandem” system for participants – have new participants team up with experienced ones who can help show them the ropes of both finding organisms and making observations on iNat. It seems like instruction and guidance on-site during the bioblitz might be more effective than providing info in advance.
I find it interesting that you describe a bioblitz as “structured wildlife engagement”, as my impression is that many on iNat are not at all structured beyond “show up and make observations”.
I don’t think any of us are trying to put barriers to engagement, we just want to figure out ways to help people make better observations from the start and shorten the learning curve.
It also seems to me that there are various ways to get people engaged, and not all of them require posting observations on iNat from the outset. Surely the appeal of a bioblitz is not merely being introduced to an app but the social aspect – engaging with nature together with other enthusiastic people and learning that it is possible to find and recognize all sorts of plants and critters with the help of fellow naturalists and iNat’s CV.
That is, why not start by looking at things together with others, maybe looking over someone else’s shoulder while they make observations or trying out Seek to get an ID, and then afterwards, if one wishes, uploading one’s photos to iNat with experienced users on hand to help with questions. I wonder whether splitting up the process so that observing and posting observations are not simultaneous would help people slow down and think about what they are doing rather than thinking they have to capture and upload everything right now as quickly as possible.
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There is another thread. Planning a bioblitz. My comment was flagged. Admin has zero obs. I’m out of that discussion.
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Good point.
I feel that the main weak point for events requiring the use of iNat is often represented by the organizers themselves, at least in my country.
Many projects associated with events are created by users with zero to very few observations and that often have logged in long time ago. So, I wonder what we could expect from these events. Are they “connected with nature”? Will they make the participants connect with nature?
Moreover, another issue is when the event is finished and the organizers literally disappear from iNat leaving all the mess behind. In this regard, I think that things should be clear: if you want to organized an event in which observations will be uploaded, consider well if you will be able to manage all these observations. This is not an attempt to discourage potential organizers, but a suggestion to limit the number of participants. A small group of people adequately instructed will likely produce a relatively small number of decent observations. A multitude of people who don’t know almost nothing will unavoidably create a mess.
Good observations can be made also in places that can be easibly reached and visited by everyonein like urban parks.
In the end, when participants have given the goal to upload the higher number of observations is the exact opposite of the aims of iNat. I mean, a connection with technology through nature.
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I think that most new users create a bit of confusion at the beginning. Very few people read the guidelines right away; most just upload their photos. If they are lucky, their observations get confirmed, so they upload another one, and then another. Some eventually leave because iNaturalist does not fully meet their expectations — that was also my experience at the beginning, as I learned mainly by making observations and improving them over time.
Bioblitzes are one way of bringing in more new users. Yes, this can temporarily increase the amount of unrefined data, but it also gives new people a chance to discover the platform and the community.
If these new users are willing to learn, they usually pick up quite quickly how to make better observations and what to avoid. And there is always support available from more experienced users who are happy to give advice.
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Ideally, when a new user joins they would have some support. If the photos are lacking, they need photography advice, if the photos are good but lacking identifiable details they need advice on what to take photos of.
Way off identifications would need some advice on how to make better ones and where the resources are.
When a wave of new users arrive within days, most people get disappointed. The new observers were promised crowdsourced identification that is not coming as fast as expected, identifiers are overwhelmed by the volume and frustrated by the quality of observations.
About half of people that assisted me during the initial, steepest learning curve are less active today. I engage with one or two new users a week, if I am not too tired, when I notice them posting a couple of times. No one asked me to, I am just paying forward but my free time is limited.
I wonder how many of the 4 million people who posted at least one observation during 2025 will post again in 2026.
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I, too, am a new iNat Ambassador. I feel for my events the most important information I can impart to participants is to provide quality over quantity, even during a bio blitz. That is how I ran the three events I held in December for the Winter Solstice Sea Star Search (California) – while it was important to document as many sea stars as we could, equally important was to make sure the images were clear and concise and if a case of potential wasting disease was present, to make a series of photos including measurements and from different angles to document the disease.
I love the idea of holding informational intro programs at libraries! Thanks for that.
I also appreciate that the 2026 CNC is NOT focused on quantity like the competition feel of the previous years.
In addition, I like to explain to my participants that I like to take most of my photos on my iPhone camera and download later to iNat so that 1) I can re-live my experience, 2) can eliminate poor quality photos, and 3) can crop and edit some photos so the subject I wish to have attention is front and center (like cropping for a bird or the sea star in a scene so it’s the focus of the photo). I also encourage the use of photo mark-up to circle a subject, for example when photographing a tidepool and circling the sea star, then duplicate and circle the sea kelp, duplicate again and circle the mussels, etc.so the subject is clear for each observation. I am going to suggest to the iNat Ambassador program to push for Ambassadors to help people do quality, crop photos, and demonstrate to participants how to bunch multiple photos of a subject into one quality observation.
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I’ve suggested something along these lines. Not even defaulting to “Captive”, but at least making users manually click “Wild” or “Captive” during big events. It didn’t get much support.
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Exactly. Posting observations to iNat as a way to “Save X species” in peril is not very much geared toward the goal of saving said species (as one example). there are many ways to engage people in social settings to interact with nature - we know this because iNat didn’t always exist 
even if someone wants the community’s help to log species of bees or birds in an area, that someone has the responsibility to manage the information from the community - including observations that aren’t helpful to the goal.
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