There are two species in the genus Hamatocactus on iNat. 3-4 years ago, there was a discussion where those 2 species (and probably more in other genera) were moved from their original homes in Ferocactus and Thelocactus. POWO lists the original names as valid and names with Hamatocactus as synonyms.…

You will want to be familiar with this long and still open flag on family Cactaceae: https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/337805

it seems to me primarily that you should wait more than just “a few days” for responses. people are busy; many of my colleagues don’t visit iNaturalist every week, let alone every day, and when they do they don’t always have time for every tag. if the taxon entries have gotten along fine, in a manne…

Agreed. Wait longer. Tag people a 2nd time if they don’t respond the first. I’ll often intentionally leave flags open for several months before committing changes which may be considered controversial. (Although I have recently learned that some people care about subspecies a lot more than I person…

I think at least a few weeks is warranted for larger taxonomic changes. In general, I would say wait time to commit increases with: Number of taxa involved Number of observations involved Complexity of change Difficulty of reversing change Number of active curators/taxonomic experts engaged wi…

[image] sbrobeson: many of my colleagues don’t visit iNaturalist every week, let alone every day From my notifications, I know that these cactus identifiers are active daily. I also know there is no rush and I drafted swaps already. No one answered my first question about deviations, but it …

then I’ll say it in more personal terms: I am active daily on iNaturalist, but I get so many tags or other notifications that I have a standing pile of (as of right now) 150 notifications. I have other things to do than spend all of my work breaks, off-hours, and mealtimes poring through that heap. …

[image] egordon88: No one answered my first question about deviations, but it seems like a good idea to set them up. I agree, because it shows that the discrepancy with POWO is intentional, and should be discussed before changing. Otherwise a random curator might think the discrepancy was out…

How to handle Cactus species - deviating without deviations - #10 by system - Curators

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