Create a way to see that people want explanations on IDs

I think it’s already possible for anyone who wants further explanation for an ID to request it, simply by saying that in a comment. Maybe I’m missing something, and I apologize if so, but it seems to work, at least if one is in the habit of checking notifications?
More interested users will ask, others won’t. It’s up to them. They won’t necessarily want that detail on every taxon. An indication that might characterize a user as always wanting more detail might seem burdensome to identifiers and not always necessary to the user.
It’s hard enough to try to impress on what seems like the majority of users such concepts as “Captive/Cultivated” versus “Wild”. ;) Another thing to select to communicate an idea… versus someone just formulating a simple question to ask if they want more info… seems like an unnecessary complication to me. :woman_shrugging:t4:

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I don’t understand, but doesn’t this feature already exist? Everyone can ask in the comments and if a person wants, he will answer.

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I don’t actually think it would be useful. Yes, you would all like to get detailed explanations. If this feature was introduced, half of INat would think: “oh yeah, getting explanations would be great, sure, I’ll check that box, why not? what’s the downside?”, they would all get this badge and I’d just keep ignoring them and not explaining anything anyway, because it would be too much.

In order for a signal that you want explanations to work and make me explain things, it needs to be not-super-common, and in order to not be super common it needs to be slightly annoying for you to send, like typing “please explain your ID”, for example. If it’s too much effort for you to type “please, explain” it will definitely be too much effort for me to explain. Yeah, sure, you may only get your explanation half the time. But a badge will get you an explanation <1% of the time.

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If you ask me, I think it would be practical if you had 50+ comments or notifications coming up every day, and then it would be a mess trying to count like: 23/59 answered,24/59 answered, and if you miss them, like you reach the last comment and have answered 56/59, then it a notorious task to go and check every observation again and again, until all are answered, right? But if have upto 10 notifications everyday (like I have), I think this feature may be useless, right?

Same as a better notification system xD
I thought this idea may be a quick code rather than changing an entire system (which may help? I am dubious however. I ID a lot on the scale of things going through about 300 obs per day, and I have my confirming ID notices turned off, and I still miss things even though i get about 10-20 notices a day.) but I am not a coder. To me this would help from both sides!

I use iOS app to upload.
iOS users CAN read comments by using the Activity Bell icon and choosing My Content.

Often IDers will miss our comments, as they aren’t prominent on the website.

After another discussion today.
I would require the observer to ‘earn’ explanations with two and half times as many IDs for others, as their own obs.
Do the ID work, then, ask for frequent explanations.
(Obviously everyone on this thread does pay it forward with IDs)

Do you mean in able to turn on this feature as suggested, they need to have 2.5x many id’s made as observations? I could see that being a decent idea to help it not be abused.

Overall though; we cannot assume everyone here has any idea about science at all, any more that someone should assume I know how an internal combustion engine works (I…have no clue. I press the button and my car starts, it’s a magic black box). For many that is how IDing is…they may need a lot of hand holding and explanations before they can start to give back.

If someone is constantly asking and never giving, that’s an issue. But I wouldn’t personally put such limits on sharing what I know.

See. That there. Is why I think it is better if the observer puts in some effort, if only to ask for an explanation. Their answer needs an identifier with time and teaching skills.

I also think so, an example can be @ k_jiaranisakul, as he is on researchgate.

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We discussed this request today. While we appreciate the issue and want to improve ID info availability, we don’t feel that this solution, at this broad a level (even on a per-observation basis) is the right one, so I’m going to close it.