I have about 600 herp records from the I-10/Bootheel area I collected in 2005-2012
Very few of these are associated with any photo, so they cannot be IDed by a third party. Who thinks that I should bother to enter these into your system? I guess the question is : Are these records worth it for future reference.
Example: there are over 100 records for C. atrox with size and location. There are 30 records for Long-nosed snake. These records would, I guess, NEVER achieve “research” status.
These will be marked as casual as there are no photos, but just because it wont be research grade status doesnt mean it cannot be useful to someone. Then again, photographs are very central to Inat
As @abdullateefismail stated, photographs/sounds are the key element in iNaturalist. Without them, there is no way to confirm the observations. This doesn’t mean you’ll upload fake data, but if someone wants to use that data, he/she won’t be able to assess if the data is truthfull or not. That said, I think that “data is data”, and maybe someone will use that data of yours. So my advice is to upload it
One way to help people assess the quality of the data is to include text in the notes that explains how you know that the identification is correct. Give some background on your experience with the species. That way other users don’t have to guess whether you know what you’re talking about.
Yes, that helps too. And even if there is no photo or description/notes, many researchers will double-check occurrence data by comparing it with present or historical geographic data on the species. If the data is inside the range, they might use it along with the “research grade” data
i sometimes upload data like this (albeit with plants). If it’s helpful and useful to you i say go for it. If it’s just a chore, maybe not worth it since not as many people will see them. It’s really up to you
But even if not many iNaturalist users will see it, bulk data consumers may find the data very usefull (scientists that build species ecological models, for example)