And there are highly active IDers who are regularly rude, dismissive, and insulting and make no secret of the fact that they have a very low opinion of regular users and their ability to provide good data. In some cases observers (and other IDers!) who have encountered these individuals have been put off of participating on iNat, or at least participating in such a way that makes encounters with certain users likely.
Inconsiderate behavior is not exclusive to observers or IDers. Let’s not make this thread about pointing fingers or a debate over who has to endure the worst abuses. iNat is, ultimately, also a social website, and as in any activity that brings diverse groups of people together, some of those people will be having a bad day, or be poor at communication, or have an abrasive manner.
Where these tensions turn into conflicts, it often seems to result from at least one of the participants being unable or unwilling to see the situation from the perspective of the other user or to recognize that there are other needs and desires besides their own. Let’s try to avoid that happening here, shall we?