I just saw an observation where the first image was some cartoon with the text “Caution: Dead Animal.” To me doing this sort of thing is inappropriate and should be flagged, even if the intentions are noble. Opinions?
I never saw a problem with it as long as the actual observation is there. Why do you think it’s inappropriate?
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There is a person in my area that observes only dead animals in the road, at an activist level to draw attention to humans, cars, and their impact on the natural surroundings. If there is an observation of a mammal near the road, there is probably a 70/30 shot it’s a dead squirrel.
No cartoon or anything.
This has been discussed previously here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/is-a-photo-of-entrails-too-offensive-for-inaturalist/5465/
Currently, best practice (if you want to make the first photo non-gory) is to post a non-gory close-up - like a foot or something - as the first photo. In general it’s not great to submit a warning graphic because a) it’s not evidence of the organism and b) it’s an image that might be used to train the computer vision model. That being said, unless it’s a consistent problem, it’s not a big deal.
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I think it’s important to avoid posting repulsive pictures as the first photo because, well, they repulse people. I’ve switch from warning signs to posting a photo with the gory parts masked as the first photo, then the thing in all its ugly glory as the second. I think that meets iNaturalist standards better while protecting sensitive botanists.
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I just posted a dead bird that was rather gory. This is the first dead animal photo I have censored. I used a paint tool to color over the guts. I picked a neutral color that matches the background well.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53509483
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That’s a really good solution, in my opinion. Blurring or using a neutral color to color over any large amounts of gore in the first photo while still leaving the rest of the animal uncovered and identifiable, and then have an unaltered second photo as well.
Blurring would probably have less impact on the AI image training, but coloring over will be easier for some users - especially on mobile.
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Depends on their editor. The native gallery app on my phone (over 2 years old) includes a blur tool.
It’s a pen tool, so it’s exactly as easy to use as coloring over.
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