Now, we know that the forums are not a place to request ID help; but that does not mean that they cannot be used indirectly for this. Watch all the discussion threads. Look for a conversation where you can make a relevant comment, but at the same time, can relevantly link one of your observations. I’ve had a few of mine reach research grade that way.
I’m not sure I follow 100%, but if you have an observation that hasn’t been ID’d for some time you can always feel free to tag one of the top-ID’ers or a known expert to assist.
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Yes, please don’t use the forum for this. You can directly message or mention potential identifiers on iNaturalist itself. Most experts on iNat want to identify others’ observations so it doesn’t need to be done surreptitiously.
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Agreed. This isn’t how the forum is supposed to be used. I have linked to my observations to illustrate a point (e.g. if I want to show a poor quality photo it had better be my own!) and it’s possible I might have got IDs through that but I doubt it. One observation I’ve linked to at least once I agreed was probably unverifiable.
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It is like slow food … watching the discussion unfold on iNat. Then someone sweeps thru and checks all the whatevers and the IDs mount up.
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Things I have learned about IDs on iNat in four months as a forum member:
1: You can tag experts to get IDs faster
2: A lot of experts are so inundated by tags that they ignore them
3: Some experts are annoyed by tags
4: You should request permission if you are going to tag experts (see 3) unless it is obviously (to them, not to you) of interest to the expert
5: Requests for permission may be declined
6: Requests for permission may be ignored
7: IDs will materialize months later for things you forgot about
8: As in life, patience is a virtue on iNat
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best real tips:
- be patient
- make friends
- have fun, and time flies
- remember that in IRL museums some specimens sit for decades+ unidentified so chill lol
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Oh, I illustrate points with mine. But if you consider, for example, this Prickly Pear Cactus discussion – I didn’t start it, nor did I bring up the cochineal bugs, but given that the discussion was there, and went in that direction, I do not see anything wrong with making the connection to an observation of mine that was relevant.
And I have gotten IDs in the way you mentioned. How else to explain that they occur within a day or two after my participation in a discussion?
There you go. And I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those IDs come from the same people who would complain about it in this thread.
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