On “Explore,” it has the option to show ONLY one’s own observations (which is unnecessary since there is already a dedicated page for “My Observations”), but no option to HIDE one’s own observations, which would be hugely useful when trying to actually explore and help others with IDs.
For instance, in my county, and whole general region, I am currently one of the top contributors. This makes it frustrating to check for/explore new observations by OTHER contributors. It seriously reduces both efficiency and my drive to help with IDs.
I think the feature you are looking for may have some merit. Maybe more so in the identify mode rather than explore. [Ed: Although since this post I think it may not be necessary]
I also think on the App and on the Website that being able to explore “ONLY” ones own observations is valid. The reason for this being is there are other filters that are available in conjunction. This filter is somewhat limited on the App but can help one narrow down a time period, RG, Needs ID, Casual Grade, Annotations, and Projects instead of showing all on Observations - this can also be of more interest when instead of being in grid view is in map view. The Website filters are far more robust and can be supercharged if one has a working knowledge of using search parameters in the URL https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-use-inaturalists-search-urls-wiki
Alas I could not find a without_user_id parameter in the iNaturalis API document but then that may be just me.
not_user_Id is the parameter. Note for whatever reason if you enter the text string of the name it just never completes the search. You have to use your user ID number.
If you dont happen to know your actual user ID number, you can find it by going to your profile home page, and adding .json on at the end of the URL string, for example https://www.inaturalist.org/people/cmcheatle.json and it will be the first item listed.
However, I just realized that if I do an Identify of my area https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=49140
or the world, it would seem (save for one for some odd reason), I don’t show up - maybe this is so I can’t identify my own observations outside of the original observation. Is this universal?
Not really a choice on the App but on the Website has @angi_gregoire tried just to identify in her area to achieve her goal?
Yes, 99% of my own observations (but curiously not 100%) seem to be automatically marked as “reviewed” at upload. To see them I have to set reviewed to yes or any in the filters.
I don’t think there is any built in effort to prevent one from re-identifying one’s own observations though.
not sure if this is relevant, but in the Identify pages ones own observations are filtered out because they are automatically set to “reviewed” when you upload them.
I will have to play with this a bit. I don’t have a laptop or computer, currently, only a cell phone or tablet, so it’s a bit bulky to work on the website (unfortunate, because I would prefer it for many things).
The Identify page is designed for users who want to add IDs to other users’ observations, but you can always use it to view your own observations. I do that to quickly annotate my observations.
This is also a bit of a workaround, but you can always create a collection project and use the exclusion filters. Here is one that shows all observations in Bremer County aside from angi_gregoire’s: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/example-bremer-county
I was wondering about the app-side part of this. Could it still be possible to do a checkbox to exclude my observations on the app? While I realize I can do this on the website, it’d be useful for times when I want to get a few IDs in while I’m waiting at the dentist and such.
I, too, would love to see this feature in the mobile app! I am the primary contributor in my area, as well, and would love to be able to clear out all of my pins when I’m exploring what else has been reported and where. I use the website very little and do most of my interaction with iNat on my phone, due to time constraints around parenting. The app is absolutely wonderful for allowing me to upload my observations around my busy schedule; it would be great if its functionality also extended into the social/community side of iNaturalist. :) Currently I don’t find it very useful for reviewing IDs or searching observations that aren’t my own, and so I don’t do any of that. (I already commented in another thread about another community-oriented feature in filtering for comments - thereby facilitating discussion and social connections.)
