I administer the Found Feathers project, which uses an observation field called “Feather Placement.” The unintended consequence of removing editing rights for anyone but the original observer is that I no longer have the ability to correct incorrect or intentionally temporary values, which is an issue as the field includes an “Unknown” option that many people choose by default. It seems a bit onerous to leave comments on every single observation giving the correct placement and expecting the observer to modify the selected value, so I wonder whether it might be possible for certain trusted individuals be given the rights to edit observation field values.
Would it be possible to expand the infrastructure of the ownership of observation fields? The one experience I’ve had with changing observation field ownership required the iNat staff to get involved, and ultimately only one person was allowed ownership. I say this because using ownership of an observation field as a basis for editing rights might be the most intuitive way to allow people who are well-positioned to select the correct values to do so.
The Found Feathers project exists solely on iNaturalist, and the Feather Placement field adds a valuable set of standardized search terms. I’d love to be able to control the data that gets input into my project going forward–it seems a shame to scrap something that’s been so valuable in making the project’s database of feather observations more navigable. I don’t know how to formally make a request, though–let me know if there’s a more productive venue to express these issues.