It is a job, at least a hard work to do, but without payment in money.
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Welcome! Ok, now I’m just curious … do you have a link to one of your observations?
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This might be a broad answer that spans more than 2021 but it is how I used iNat least year so I think it’s relevant… For me, iNat has been a wonderful mix of teaching, learning, and entertainment. iNat is such a useful tool for learning, whether it be photographing an unknown and others identifying for you then researching the organism, or providing that little boost in confidence you need by having your identification confirmed, looking through photos to become more familiar with a species, or someone from your area finding a species near you then researching it and trying to find it yourself. On the flip side, it’s great to provide identifications for others and to provide information on how to differentiate this species from lookalikes. Through the site I’ve also “met” several fantastic naturalists and nature enthusiasts that I might not have had the opportunity to otherwise and I’m really grateful. I really can’t understate how much I’ve learned because of iNat and the incredible user base, and how helpful and positive the community is here.
In 2021 specifically, I went on trips to a few states on the other side of the country from me. It was wonderful to be able to catalogue the flora and fauna around me, and to be able to turn a broad identification that I was able to make personally (i.e. cholla) into a narrower or even species-level identification. Arizona in particular has a fantastic community of sharp naturalists that poked around at my many broad identifications. In California, it was really fun to get to see endemic plants and then check the species accounts to see the insanely small range of some of these plants, especially around Del Monte.
I also got into cast netting and snorkeling, and the fish enthusiasts out here are on point 
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Sounds exciting!
I’ve just seen the number of your observations, identifications and species… for you, it must be like a double-shift, full time job, 7 days per week! How do you do it???
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173811 IDs made for others by marina_gorbunova!
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Hah, not really, after I had my hand hurt I’m not doing ids for now, but spending days drawing polygons for project that I will try to make my aim for this year, I also spend this winter at home, waiting for spring, so you may say I’m having a vacation.) With observations… I lost most of my photos from previous years, which is unfortunate, but also I’m not making as much as some people did e.g. in a last year. There’re people with 100k obs and 500+k ids, that’s where I would like to see myself in the future, together with many other users. I actually don’t have a “real” job, so that definitely helps with free time.
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Tech idiot, I don’t know how, and I only have my phone app. But they are posted, dated July 15&16 2021.
voter 100! It really helped me kill time, and also at the end i’ve remade some friends via inat(indirectly)
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Yes, that is really the case, there are not so many mushroom IDers. Yet, they are so very amazing in their forms. I wonder if you are right about being careful to not ID potentially toxic ones as edible?
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How did iNat impact your life in 2021?
I’ve always had a love for local plants and was an avid observer since my teens. The pandemic gave me an opportunity to pause and I decided to follow my love for our incredible native plants and their conservation. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I had my heart set on moving away from the corporate world and diving into my passion for plants.
I casually stumbled upon INat while researching, and it opened up a portal and sucked me completely in (around 10K observations in 10 months) 
I couldn’t believe I was able to finally know the names that the local plant field guide was lacking, and I voraciously learned more and more about the plants I so loved. When going out into the field and actually taking the time to observe the plants and their ecosystem in a deeper way, it just reaffirmed my decision to follow my passion was the correct one.
Since joining iNat I’ve now embarked on a journey to start an endemic plant conservation project, and have extended population records for many species. One of my highlights was discovering a new fern on the peninsula, it made me feel like a true old-timey explorer: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102226145 I’ve also been invited to participate in the editing/consulting for a new plant field guide for our region, working with co-authors Jim Riley and Jon Rebman (one of my Baja plant heroes). Jim, who has written field guides for Northern Baja and the Channel Islands has become a dear friend and mentor on this journey.
I competed and won first place for most species observed, in a cacti competition put on by Naturalista and CONABIO (National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity), and then had to talk about it online to a live audience (just a tad nerve-racking 
) From there on my contacts in the scientific community have grown and I’m in regular contact with our local herbarium and have guided field collection trips, and collaborated with plant experts who I’ve looked up to for many years.
What can I say, iNaturalist has enriched my life in so many ways, I could go on and on but I feel like I’m writing a book here! My whole life I felt so “weird” and an outsider for my love and knowledge of plants, and never had anyone I could talk to about all these geeky things. I’m so thankful to the community I’ve found on iNat and can’t wait for what the future holds!
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I have been working from home for nearly 2 years now. So, I took time away from the computer, nearly each day between May-October, to check out my yard plants. Over the past 15 years I have planted 100’s and 100’s of native plants: flowering plants, shrubs, trees… many are flowering from April-November. So I had time to more fully explore what’s out there. I do avian ecology plus education for work and am usually somewhere else, a lot, between May-Sept. So I miss out on the yard-dwelling arthropods (except Lepidoptera; I’ve managed to document most of those over the years). But in 2021, I was able to learn about so many new things. Mostly Hymenoptera, then some nice Diptera, and a mix of other things.
iNat was a huge help. I have been able to identify most (90+%) of the animals I photographed. I enjoyed getting a suggested name and then exploring all the possibilities. I actually did some of this in 2020 as well and so by summer and fall of 2021 I was also giving virtual programs via my workplace on the Biodiversity of my yard; and also specific programs on the Hymenoptera I’d found; and Herps on my street. I know the Herps and Leps - I really needed help with the Hymenoptera and Diptera, and a few Coleopterans - so iNat was fantastic for me. And then the public who attended my programs… : )
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It made me happy to create my map. Go through my archived photos from an adventurous life, scan them, upload the ones that count as observations, and watch the red dots on the world map bloom and spread. I still have some more for which I need to figure out the dates, but I’m almost there.
I found out some years ago that “souvenir” is literally the French word for “memory.” It makes so much sense – we acquire souvenirs to help us remember a trip. I find that my pictures of the flora and fauna do this even better than the souvenirs I could purchase – sometimes, it can even take me to an exact moment. I am thankful that iNaturalist has a map tab for my observations; being motivated to fill it in as a centralized record of my travels in turn motivated me to dig those pictures out of storage and enjoy them all over again.
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Re: “My whole life I felt so ‘weird’ and an outsider for my love and knowledge of plants, and never had anyone I could talk to about all these geeky things.”
I think the older you get, the more you realize that being weird or a dork is a thing of which to be proud. But wow, it is hard as a teen! High school - am I right!?! LOL Well, we’re all pro-geek pro-dork here!
And congratulations on your cacti competition award. An amazing journey and story! Thanks for sharing.
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Hmmm … I think it would take me from May to … well, May.
Ha ha. Well most of my plants are finished blooming by end of October. Some linger into November and it depends on that kind of year we’re having, weather-wise. So, I switch to looking at other things and waiting out the fall/winter, until next spring rolls around.
Amazing! Sounds beautiful.
If I made you curious I have done my job!
Wow Alaska to Hawaii! Quite the range.