How often have you seen a maverick ID turn out to be correct?

General
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There have been other threads here about people who unthinkingly “agree” with an incorrect ID, thus giving it an incorrect research grade. But I wonder: suppose the initial ID is correct, but people “agree” with a subsequent, incorrect one. Then, the observation would get an incorrect research grade, AND a correct, but maverick, ID as well. Have any of you seen this happen?

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With regularity. I usually call on others to help correct the record when it happens to me, and/or I mark it as needing further community ID, which kicks it from RG back into the Needs ID pool.

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I have seen this on probably hundreds of observations (especially of domestic geese) the maverick is often my own.

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Also, see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5890862

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Not in lichens. More often there are three erroneous IDs (including the original one) and then I add a correct one and it automatically turns maverick. Here is one (similar) example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38182015

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What the… What happened with that observation? :sweat_smile:

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All the time! Check these out

https://inaturalist.org/observations/65550256

https://inaturalist.org/observations/38473160

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Please give a Gerald warning when posting this link!

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Yea, ditto, Gerald should always be prefaced with a warning since it is now a browser crasher for a lot of people.

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In my experience very little, but it happens when people agree with the original erroneous ID. The majority of my ID activity is in Lepidoptera of Hong Kong (and neighbouring areas).

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Anyone who regularly reviews research-grade observations ends up with at least a few maverick IDs which are probably correct. Some people take care to tag in other experienced identifiers whenever this happens, so the observations quickly go back into the “Needs ID” pool. Other people don’t bother, and quite a few maverick IDs can accumulate after a while.

I’m one of the ones guilty of just putting in a maverick ID and leaving it at that. I guess I should do something about it. Would anyone like to review some of my maverick IDs? They’re mostly spiders in North America: https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=jeremyhussell&category=maverick

Incidentally, you can modify the link above to show any user’s maverick IDs, including your own and those of prolific identifiers.

https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=bouteloua&category=maverick
https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=raymie&category=maverick
https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=jurga_li&category=maverick
https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=vancouverbirder&category=maverick
https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=robotpie&category=maverick

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I assumed most people had memorized the number in the URL by now give how often the observation is linked too. :wink:

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Thank you @jgw_atx, for reviewing my maverick IDs and halving their number.

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Sometimes people get confused with common names. For example someone sees a caterpillar in Latin America and type in “Gusanillo”. Others then agree with that. However Gusanillo is the Spanish common name of a plant. The correct ID “Lepidoptera” is then often a maverick.

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