# Flagging individual identifications **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** question\ **Created:** [May 13, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934 "2026-05-13T13:54:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gcwarbler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/gcwarbler/32/1787_2.png) [@gcwarbler](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/gcwarbler)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/1 "2026-05-13T13:54:43Z")
I must have missed something. I only recently started seeing some flags on individual identifications on observations. And this seems to be gaining some quick traction as I am seeing some identifiers use this as almost a default action for identification disagreements. That doesn’t seem appropriate and I’m sure it is creating an unnecessary burden for flag resolutions. When was this capability introduced? ---
**Author:** ![WeeCorbie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/weecorbie/32/27710_2.png) [@WeeCorbie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/WeeCorbie)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/2 "2026-05-13T14:32:56Z")
I wasn’t aware of this either - I took a look at a few pages of flags, and it seems that it’s mostly being used with good intent to flag sockpuppetry, etc., but there were a few cases that looked like evidence of spats between users (flagging each other’s IDs, tit for tat) and what could be overly harsh responses to new/inexperienced users who aren’t familiar with ID guidelines. Several flags accused users of trying to “push observation to RG,” which is a pretty nebulous accusation…how can you tell whether a user is inappropriately “pushing” their observation to RG, versus genuinely believing that another user’s ID is correct? Isn’t that what disagreement is for? It does seem like there’s a lot of potential for misuse and abuse of this capability; at the least, it must be placing quite a burden on the curators who review these flags. ---
**Author:** ![schoenitz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/schoenitz/32/56_2.png) [@schoenitz](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/schoenitz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/3 "2026-05-13T14:59:31Z")
It’s been possible for as long as I can remember (how long that is is up for debate). You may have noticed an uptick lately because in the wake of the CNC there was a significant number of users who made sockpuppets to RG their own observations. Such sockpuppets are typically registered very recently, have no observations but some (tens to hundreds) of identifications, all for the same user or small group of users. It’s been a problem in this CNC in particular because of the new “no casual” rule. Since it’s not possible to flag users directly (except as spam), and their identifications are their only content on the site, it’s then appropriate to flag the IDs to bring it to curators’ attention. It does make a lot of work, however. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/4 "2026-05-13T19:11:12Z")
> [@gcwarbler](#): > > And this seems to be gaining some quick traction as I am seeing some identifiers use this as almost a default action for identification disagreements. That doesn’t seem appropriate and I’m sure it is creating an unnecessary burden for flag resolutions. It definitely shouldn’t be used for that purpose. It should be used if the ID appears to be intentionally false, insulting/racist, or to document in cases of suspected sockpuppetry or bad ID behavior (eg agreeing to everything without being able to independently verify it). And there’s been an uptick of suspicious IDs in some CNC projects, which is why I assume it’s being used more. Edited to add: FWIW, flagging an ID doesn’t remove it from the community taxon algorithm (I just double-checked on our test server). The ID has to be hidden by a curator to be taken out of the community taxon calculation. ---
**Author:** ![egordon88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/egordon88/32/29204_2.png) [@egordon88](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/egordon88)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/5 "2026-05-14T05:27:23Z")
> [@tiwane](#): > > eg agreeing to everything without being able to independently verify it Not to sound cynical, but I could spend all day flagging IDs of obscure invertebrates using this standard. Especially anytime I suggest an ID as “tentative” and the observer agrees straight away…sigh. ---
**Author:** ![cthawley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/cthawley/32/1445_2.png) [@cthawley](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cthawley)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/6 "2026-05-15T18:07:36Z")
Agree (pun intended). This is why I think that removing the agree buttons from observers’ own observations would be one of the easiest ways to improve data quality on iNat. ---
**Author:** ![papernautilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@papernautilus](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/papernautilus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/7 "2026-05-15T19:47:22Z")
> [@egordon88](#): > > Especially anytime I suggest an ID as “tentative” If I feel that my id is tentative, I make it as a comment. That way the observer can’t just agree with me to push the thing to research grade. ---
**Author:** ![egordon88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/egordon88/32/29204_2.png) [@egordon88](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/egordon88)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/8 "2026-05-15T21:26:12Z")
I do that sometimes also, especially if there’s another experienced user I can tag. Depends how confident I am and how rare it is. ---
**Author:** ![gcwarbler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/gcwarbler/32/1787_2.png) [@gcwarbler](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/gcwarbler)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2026, 3:21am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/9 "2026-05-16T03:21:32Z")
Note: The topic is about flagging identifications, not about strategies regarding agreements, disagreements, or comments on observations. ---
**Author:** ![cthawley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/cthawley/32/1445_2.png) [@cthawley](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cthawley)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2026, 11:46am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/10 "2026-05-16T11:46:32Z")
The OP here basically asks about the identification flagging functionality and when it was introduced. The staff comment above laid out the criteria under which the flag should be used. @egordon88 and I commented on how, under these criteria, many identifications _could_ be flagged depending on the observers’/identifiers’ behavior. Specifically we are discussing observers who automatically/blindly agree with any suggested ID on their observations without possessing the ability to ID it themselves [which they generally would have done initially if they knew the ID themselves]. This behavior is seen throughout the year on iNat and is similar to behavior during the CNC where user accounts were blindly agreeing to each others’ observations to push them to RG, the likely cause of the flags that you referenced in your OP that was addressed in posts 2 and 3. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 11:46am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/flagging-individual-identifications/78934/11 "2026-07-15T11:46:46Z")
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