Given the defaults involved in submitting observations anyway, It appears to just mean “two people have agreed on species name” (except where flagged as no better ID possible). It requires no specific data fields other than the defaults for observation uploads anyway (media/location/time) and agree…

And they can add ids by typing? Agreeing ids. It’s a way to learn what you add, if you think people are learning when they hit agree, in most cases they don’t, they think agree means thank you, they think someone ided it then it’s right, you want the learning process to be made on mistakes, while an…

I agree. I do check RG observations sometimes, when I realize a certain species often gets mixed up. I sometimes find wrong IDs there… but usually only 2 IDs there and it is very easy to push them back… actually, kind of how science works as well. Someone puts an idea out and it might be valid until…

Saludos, @hawkparty (waving hello madly). I am self-taught as well and use what I have seen referred to as a “sillyphone” to take the photos for my observations because that is what I have. You are correct that cultural attitudes and words can make some users feel unwanted or out of place. So too …

[image] hawkparty: And I can tell you that if iNaturalist had banned me from participating because I didn’t have any credentials I probably would have just abandoned the website. Perhaps my comment was misunderstood… Of course new users could still add IDs in my proposed scenario (via either …

[image] kmforum: I’d probably be less likely to volunteer my time as an IDer if it led to more “George observations”. Would you rather contribute to more George observations, or more Gerald observations? Or to put it another way, do you think that Gerald’s RG holds more weight because of the …

I would like to share a story of myself and one other user. We frequent the same taxon. I do not know this user personally. I have never had a true conversation with them outside of our discussions on observations. I very often take issue with their judgments and discourse with them. While I persona…

I am sorry if my post at all contributed to your feelings. That was NOT my intention. This forum, granted me “Basic User” and then some days later I was notified I was now a “Member”, granted new functions and capabilities. And I felt rewarded. That was more what I was conceiving, not a punitive s…

I think your concern is in part why I made this thread. ‘Research Grade’ is practically a label that in itself is just a confirmation that another user agrees with someone’s observation ID, no more, no less. This requires no expertise, no credentials, no research or experience to use (but yes in t…

I think this conversation has gotten a bit off-topic, in general, so I won’t continue other than to add: I value new users and new IDers, and am tired of being misquoted (which, by the way, is also hurtful).

[image] headsoup: ‘Research Grade’ is practically a label that in itself is just a confirmation that another user agrees with someone’s observation ID, no more, no less. I’m being pedantic here, but I just want to clarify for the benefit of any newer users in this thread that possibly haven’t…

Does 'Research Grade' actually mean anything?

General

Topic		Replies	Views
Rename "Research Grade"? (discussion and polls) General	101	8717	September 14, 2025
"research level" not always reliable General taxonomy	61	3453	November 16, 2022
Why are Two agreeing IDs (and no disagreeing IDs) needed to achieve research grade? General question	49	1318	February 3, 2025
Should an observation require 3 IDs to reach "research grade" when the observer is just agreeing with a suggestion? General	63	3082	April 2, 2022
Agreeing with experts and "research grade" General	115	15017	August 1, 2019

Does 'Research Grade' actually mean anything?

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