I have been using iNat since 2017, but I wasn’t really paying attention to the forum until recently (~August 2022). I also didn’t stay on top of any communications about changes, and am honestly just blind sometimes to features I haven’t used.
So, sorry if this is inappropriate hijacking of the thread, but I just realized the mechanics of one of the Agree button workflows. Probably everyone else already knows this and maybe this is what they are talking about with the problematic agree buttons.
I was thinking it would be nice if there was a way to check off receipt of notifications in the Dashboard. I took a harder look (edit: to make sure this function wasn’t already in place) and noticed the “Agree” button on notifications under “All Updates” and “Your Content”.
I tested the button on one of my observations under “Your Content”. The effect of clicking this button is an agreeing ID and when you go back to “Your Content” that ID has moved to the top (potentially now with a nice little Research Grade green flag for positive reinforcement).
I think this specific agree button should be removed, at least under “Your Content”. I don’t think users can fully evaluate the merits of the recommended ID from this location. It also can be confused with an acknowledgement-like functionality for the uninitiated (even though it doesn’t really work that way). I’d be curious if there is a case for it under “All Updates”. Joined with subscriptions to taxa, that seems like a recipe for high volume Agrees with minimal review.
We should keep the agree buttons on prior IDs in the Identify pop up and Observation pages because those locations are designed to support a thorough review.