Slightly off-topic, but I just discovered I’ve been blocked by a user as a consequence of applying broad categories to a bunch of their observations. After getting a “That is real helpful, might even narrow it down to tree?” response to my ID, I politely explained the reason why I was doing that, and tried to provide a more specific ID (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33956638). This seems to have triggered the block. It is obviously the user’s freedom to do so, but it is mildly irritating when you are just trying to help!
My question for you guys; has it ever happened to any of you to get blocked by an beginner user after providing a coarse ID to an “unknown” obs?
“has it ever happened to any of you to get blocked by an beginner user after providing a coarse ID to an “unknown” obs?”
No, have not seen that yet. A lot of new users seem to be ignorant of the fact that a broad ID in place of “Unknown” helps knowledgeable reviewers find their record. If you explain this in your comments and they still don’t get it, well that’s their problem.
It hasn’t happen to me yet but I expect I will get that kind of response at some point. I agree with @jnstuart that if after providing a mature response as to why we are doing it they still don’t like it and potentially block you then it is a problem with them that we shouldn’t take personally.
I had this happen as well! They also kept flagging every single ID or comment anyone left on her observations as spam or “inappropriate”. I believe that account eventually got suspended for persistent misuse of the flagging system though.
When there are potentially sensitive issues – a user has made a mistake, someone blocked you inappropriately, a user used inappropriate language or otherwise violated the Community Guidelines – please consider flagging the content, if relevant, and/or reaching out to help@inaturalist.org rather than posting specific examples or calling out specific users on the forum.
Your language on the observation appeared totally reasonable and polite, and in my opinion, a block based on this interaction is unwarranted.
Blocking is an extreme measure for situations where efforts to resolve differences through discussion have failed and the offending party refuses to stop contacting you. … If we (the site staff) find that you are using blocking to silence identifiers you don’t trust, we will investigate and we may suspend you.
Thanks for your feedback! I thought this situation would be of interest to other identifiers of “unknown” observations (and was genuinely curious to hear if it had happened to others), but you are right, I shouldn’t have copy/pasted the specific example.