Description of problem (please provide a set of steps we can use to replicate the issue, and make as many as you need.):
Whenever I attempt to update the past licenses for my observations(also occurs when attempting for photos and sounds), the page hangs for about a minute and then throws an error. I assume this is because I have a large number of observations(44k), but there is no way I can find to do it in smaller chunks and I would like to update my observation licenses.
Step 1: Go to settings->display and content
Step 2: Change default license and select update existing observations
Are you trying to change from a permissive license to a less-permissive license (such as going from CC-BY to CC-BY-NC or All Rights Reserved)? Maybe that has something to do with it. While I cannot offer legal advice, my understanding of Copyright Law is that you cannot change the license from a permissive to less-permissive license, as that would mean someone who was abiding by the terms of the original license may be automatically violating the terms of the new license.
so, I got an error when I tried to do the exact same maneuver (CC-BY-NC to CC-BY) a while ago. however, it still ended up going through, even though the settings page didn’t register the change. like yours, it would hang for a minute – during which time I now have to assume it was just processing – and then display an error. I checked my observations and they seemed to have the correct license though.
Thanks, we’re looking into it. However, I do see CC-BY for your observations and photos, eg https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154656453 It does take a while for all observations to be reindexed once the job is kicked off. The error message you saw, though, is confusing and not helpful.
