Does anyone else get annoyed by how many observations are marked as “unknown species”? I will make exceptions for audio only observations, but theres 2.3 million observations with pictures that are left blank. I think it’s weird because not only does iNat have an algorithm designed to ID species but…

Large solitary wasp means pretty easy id can be added, there’re many species of those everywhere, I’m sure there’re many species where you live other than one famous.

[image] laffingravy: To be honest, there are observations that defy normality, such as a large solitary wasp in upper east Tn, and no, it isn’t a cicada killer. But that wouldn’t be an unknown. It can at least be marked as order Hymenoptera . Or if someone suspects it is a mimic, then Winged …

Sometimes I add basic identification to the “unknowns”, but in some cases, I just leave them as they are because I feel like the author is joking. Some flowers in a vase, a landscape with lots of things, or photos of extremely bad quality. Not to mention things that should not be published on iNat o…

Flowers in a vase can be IDed as the coarse ID flowering plants (if it’s a mixed bouquet, it may not be possible to go lower), and the wild DQA voted no.

I also usually can find something to ID in a landscape with lots of things, or I will ask the user what the intended focus of the observation is. Same for “things that should not be published on iNat”. I either paste the frequent response for non-organisms , especially if the observer has something…

They’re not joking, new users don’t know what iNat is and for what it is, especially if they only use the app.

[image] marina_gorbunova: It would be cool to have it as a separate button e.g. “I have no idea” Some people would use that just because it’s easier, even if they could have done better. [image] Star3: Flowers in a vase can be IDed as the coarse ID flowering plants I came across a pho…

[image] jasonhernandez74: I came across a photo of a boutonnière, which I was able to identify as Lamiaceae – because it was Rosemary and Lavender. Yep, that’s why I added that mixed bouquets might stay at coarse ID…because if they are all the same flower (a vase full of roses) or have some o…

I have gone with vertebrate when I didn’t know if it was a fish or a whale that was mid-identified as white mullein. Turns out it was White Mullet. Vertebrate is much better than unknown.

The demise of Pisces is very annoying. I, too, often identify unknown fish as ‘Vertebrata’. It disturbs me when I am unable to taxonomically distinguish a fish… from myself…

Does anyone else get bothered by how many observations are marked as "unknown species"?

General

Topic		Replies	Views
Thoughts on unknown ID level? General	59	1383	October 9, 2025
Heavy sigh. Comments regarding the UNKNOWN option of identifying the observation General	140	3520	September 22, 2024
Amount of "Unknown" records is decreasing General	555	38869	July 8, 2021
Why are some accounts adding super high level ids to my unknown observations General question	80	3826	September 22, 2022
Identifying taxa just to remove them from "unknown" General	42	3196	October 27, 2022

Does anyone else get bothered by how many observations are marked as "unknown species"?

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