Identification Etiquette on iNaturalist - Wiki

[sgene]

@jdmore

Adding coarser IDs - if finer-level IDs already exist on an observation, adding a coarser ID in the same lineage will give you the option (when you save it) to explicitly disagree with the finer ID(s), or to simply be uncertain about the finer ID(s). If you intend to disagree, again you should say why in the comments. (Keep in mind that sometimes an observer will have recorded notes about features that are not visible in the photographs, which may be important to the identification.)

Paragraph 3 in this thread now seems to indicate that adding a coarser ID is always okay. I’m just wondering how that fits in with this thread https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/choosing-not-to-identify-subspecies/699 discussing, among other things, the annoyance some people feel about species IDs after a subspecies ID has been made. I’m bringing this up because I think the site will work best for everyone if everyone is kind of on the same page about what is allowable/acceptable and what is not, so that everyone feels welcome.