As I go through my identifications, I occasionally see an interesting observation I’d like to come back to later. I would like to make a collection of such observations that I can then go through using Identify. Is there a way to do this? I thought a private project might work, but when I try to create one it makes me select parameters for automatic inclusion of observations by taxon, location, etc. I don’t want the site to load observations for me. I want to add them individually as I see fit. Ideas?
You could use a traditional project instead of a collection project, but maybe tags or an observation field would be easier/better.
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You can add the observation to your favorites.
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Ok, I found a link to create a traditional project. I successfully created a project, but I can’t add observations to it because I set it up so only curators can add observations and I’m not a curator. I can’t figure out how to make myself a curator. I found directions in google, but they don’t work.
OK, not sure how you’re going about this. You created the project, so you are automatically a project curator and should be able to add any observation to it.
I just made a test project with the same restriction and added one of your observations to it without any problem (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/239880576 – I’ll delete the project soon).
So if this isn’t working for you, can you say in detail how you’re going about it?
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I use “favorite” this way too, but beware that some other users will interpret “faves” as endorsements of the community ID! Not the best choice, for example, when marking a series of misidentifications to return to later.
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But other specialists do also use faves for - that one is interesting. Not necessarily agreeing with the current ID. I see need to do some research on that one
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Adding to favorites will also move photos from this observation to the top pictures of the taxon, when you look at the taxon info page. At least by default they are sorted by favorites. I use favorites when this observation has very good detailed pictures, like microscopic, or has other interesting, overlooked or insightful details. I use a special folder in my to-do list app, have used browser bookmarks before.
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I’m now able to add to the project. Maybe there was some sort of delay before the system would accept additions from me. Thanks for your help
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yes, this is primarily how I use it, to mark for myself as “need to look at again”. I think probably the majority of the observations I’ve favourited have either no community ID or at least are far from Research Grade.
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Nobody mentioned my simple solution: copy the observation URL into a dedicated Notepad file. Title the file observations_to_id
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Related to this, I’ve been using Favorites as a way to save observations with identification tips in the comments.
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Assuming you want to come back to it because it is higher than species level? You can create a link that shows you your sightings at genus or higher. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?hrank=family&lrank=genus&place_id=any&subview=table&user_id=dan_johnson&verifiable=any
I have one that is just for leps so I can go back and look at some moths closer.
You could use a tag. For example, if your tag is “test”, you’ll be able to find all these observations with the link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?q=test&search_on=tags
Obviously “test” is not a good idea, use something more personal.
I am using a tag “IDcomment” for this. Then I can even search for higher taxa.
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