Change default Sort-by mode to Scientific Name in Compare and Suggestions

Feature Requests
1

Now that the ability to sort suggested taxa alphabetically has been implemented in Compare/Suggestions, I find myself using that option almost exclusively. The Taxonomy sort option still has some utility for grouping closely related things together in a long list of suggestions. But the current “default” sort order seems entirely meaningless to the user, just reflecting the “raw” unsorted order of taxa within iNaturalist. (Correct me if I am missing something there…)

My request is to:

  1. eliminate the current “default” option and label, and
  2. make “Scientific Name” the initial default sort whenever the modal is opened, while retaining “Taxonomy” as the other sorting option.
2

Isn’t the default sorted by observation frequency? That’s much more meaningful than alphabetic sorting for someone not already intimately familiar with the taxonomy.

1 Like
3

Possibly so, I certainly could have missed that. Maybe someone can clarify? If so, might be good to rename that option as “frequency” so people know what they are seeing. Even so, I’m not sure seeing highest-frequency taxa first is the best way to arrive at an unbiased comparison and ID of an unknown.