I recently was told by a prolific Inat observer to not add identifications to their observations, and they only want experts to identify their observations. I have never had any issues with this observer before, and they don’t have any “please don’t ID” anything on their profile. I always identify every plant found on Long Island, NY and have made over 125K identifications(this is the first time this has happened to me). Although not an “expert”, I am extremely knowledgeable in all of the plants of Long Island, and always identify to the best of my ability(even if it is a supporting genus-level ID).
Looking for feedback because I don’t know how to handle this.
11 Likes
The way I see it, you have two options:
- Make the effort to avoid seeing their observations (probably by adding
¬_user_id=to all your URLS, although I guess blocking them might be a more foolproof way) - Continue as usual, and they can block you if they want to.
Which one of those you should do, that’s a more complex question.
EDIT I suppose there’s a third option: you could try to talk to them and see if you can change their mind.
9 Likes
Firstly, we need more plant identifiers on iNat, so thanks for all your hard work.
It’s an identifier right-of-passage to recieve some snark from the occasional observer. Don’t let them hurt your feelings – most people you’ve identified for are probably thrilled, but unfortunately, we tend to remember the few people who weren’t more than the many people who were.
Of course someone can ask you (hopefully politely) not to ID their observations. You aren’t required to do what they ask, but since there are far more plants needing ID than identifiers, why ID things for someone who doesn’t appreciate it? I’d probably just block them (or politely ask them to block me) so you don’t have to interact with their observations anymore.
32 Likes
iNaturalist disapproves of using blocking for the reason of preventing IDs. The help page about it says
“Blocking is for situations where you just can’t get along with someone and they won’t leave you alone, despite your best efforts to settle disputes in a civilized manner. It is not a way to hide from people, to prevent identifications from people whose opinions you don’t trust, or to opt out of the community ID (there’s another setting for that). Thus, blocking works both ways: if you block someone, they can’t interact with you, but you also can’t interact with them. If you misuse it to prevent someone from identifying your observations, you also prevent yourself from identifying their observations.”
Of course in your case, you may not know/cannot control whether the person in question blocks you and why. I do get the impression that you blocking them would also be frowned upon, although Help doesn’t explicitly say that.
5 Likes
Dear, Never let anyone tell you what you can’t do.
9 Likes
I cannot have this user block me or for me to block him because this user is an expert in a genus I tend to observe…a lot.
Also, one of the observations was wrong(a NY plant not observed in 80 years) but I refused to ID it because of the boundary.
That’s unfortunate. I admit, I haven’t blocked anyone, but I do have some observers where I tend to skip over their observations when identifying, since I know they’re very particular and I don’t always feel like dealing with that.
3 Likes
I think someone can ask you to not identify their observations, but as long as you’re not targeting or harassing them, or that you’re not severely reducing data quality (and I’m not accusing you of this, I’m speaking more generally) it’s not a realistic expectation. Best solution would be to discuss it with them, if possible.
17 Likes
Someone CAN tell you that, how you handle it is largely up to you but, for me, if someone requests I stop a behavior, I take that as being unwanted and sure, okay! I’m likely to halt that behavior.
I’m of the opinion that when someone gives me the gift of vocalizing a preference or boundary, I take it that way. I think it’s worth taking a look at the thing itself and try to see why it might be irritating someone. Sometimes? The answer is just basic incompatible needs- no harm, no foul and people move on. Sometimes I’m the one causing the problem. Sometimes the other person is being unreasonable. Sure, absolutely talk it out if you can but also imo it’s worth considering the why and if I’ve got an opportunity for further growth.
11 Likes
You can go to this person’s profile and click the ‘Mute’ button to the right of their name. This should hide this person’s observations from your feed.
7 Likes
If an observer has a huge batch that comes up among what I usually ID. A holiday or an expedition where I cannot help with IDs - I filter out that batch - Mark All as Reviewed. Then we can carry on as before.
That observer can also choose to opt out of Community ID. Mute is a good option for either of you.
That is a recipe for unhappiness on social media.
12 Likes
Honestly, I am not sure if such request should be heeded. There are some people who feel very strongly that their observations on iNat are really theirs, but is that really the case? This is a public database, used by myriads of people for all sorts of purposes and the ID system is a very key part of that - because it means constant peer review and that, at least for me, is the key factor that makes the IDs believable. If the public ID system wasn’t in place, everyone could just push their personal IDs to their observations - and I am sorry, but I trust the community consensus much more than the personal opinion of the observer. Sure, it is still possible to opt out of community ID - and thus regaining full control about your IDs - but such observation is at least never Research Grade (as I learned recently to my relief).
So I do not think people should be able to “opt out” selectively of ID by specific people (except when the people are disruptive on purpose, but those should just be banned) - because then they would just make it so that only “yes men” are IDing their observation, undermining the peer review aspect. Or at least attempts to “opt out of peer review” this way should be “punished” in the same way as opting out of community ID.
7 Likes
I’m pretty sure it won’t. That was the reason I first read the help page, to see whether or not muting would work. It seems to say only blocking would work.
3 Likes
They can be, but only if the community agrees with the observer (or vice versa :-) ).
1 Like
For better or for worse, trivial scientific matters (such as how to qualify a creature or rock) appear infrequently agreed upon by mere democratic consensus (e.g. “have the public vote, let the majority tell”), but rather through argument (disputatio) instead, involving peers w.r.t. the matter at hand. [Insert famous Asimov quote about democracy here] 
I wonder whether open displays of hostility - a will to have a community “punish”, ostracize, whatever - is beneficial in the long term.
1 Like
There is one user who also told me to stop making suggestions, because I was wrong once.
I blocked him - problem solved :)
3 Likes
I was imagining an analogy, this is like asking someone not to walk on the sidewalk in front of your house. It is a public sidewalk. They would need to get a restraining order (block) to actually force it.
6 Likes
I am a fan of “¬_user_ID=”
I use a text editor to keep search parameters which define area boundaries, species to include/exclude (&taxon_id= / &without_taxon_id=), and observers to exclude. Once you have this set up, you won’t even notice that you are not seeing their observations.
3 Likes
I think it is certainly ok to ask - I have asked people not to interact with my observations before, generally in cases where they were leaving annoying comments or making IDs that I felt they were definitely not qualified to make (like agreeing to a lot of IDs on my observations). These were generally newer users who were treating iNat more like a social media platform. Whether or not you respect the request is up to you. If you choose to continue to ID, the person could block you, but that is their prerogative. If you really want them to not block you (so they continue to ID your observations), then maybe not IDing their observations is the best course of action.
4 Likes
People’s tolerances are different.
If I know or suspect that someone could become defensive over a disagreeing ID, I just leave it as a comment with my reasons. Less pressure, better results.
I also leave my ID as a comment if I am not >95% sure or when I don’t want an auto-agreement.
If you leave your ID as a comment, you are complying with the request while still getting feedback.
6 Likes