Constructively speaking, this is the biggest underlying problem with any of the efforts suggested in this thread- the limitation of the amount of existing annotation data used to enact any of these filtering strategies. The manual addition of an annotation to each record is the highest hurdle.
So, how do we develop a focused effort to find and label the dead (or, at least “objectionally dead”) organism records? In the past, I have tried to skim through un-annotated vertebrates (likely the biggest source of squeamishness for a lot of people), but my hit rate was so low in that context that it got a little too boring to continue. Does anyone have suggestions for getting to those in a little better way? (edit: I spawned a wiki for those.)
Meanwhile (warning @mamestraconfigurata , moth-related content ;) ), as I have been annotating Lepidoptera life stages, I have realized that seeing specimens with pins through them (related topic) gives me a negative reaction. I’ve recently added marking them “dead” to my workflow and it’s very satisfying to know I can “make them go away” if I want to filter them out later.
It’s not a specific recommendation for others to do this (high-volume annotation may be an unusual activity), but I’m bringing it up to illustrate that if anyone is inclined that way, there is a “payoff” to adding =dead to one’s annotation workflow. Even if you are not bothered, you will be helping some other user(s).