Hi everyone, I’m new here. I hope this is the right place to ask this question, if not, please feel free to set me straight. I’m just wondering about a couple of things regarding posting observations on iNaturalist. I am starting out by observing things around my garden, and of course I have repe…

[image] elenmirie: we’re observing not so much for tomorrow as for 100 years from now, when scientists might be wondering what was where and when To a point. Remember that iNat might not be around then, but perhaps the data will… who knows. But of more critical importance, I think, is that by…

@mmmiller I can identify with that! They are elusive little creatures. I don’t know if it will help you at all but here are a few things that help me. First, get a good look at the subject before starting to faff about trying to take pictures. I got that lesson the hard way, trying to take pict…

@kiwifergus Good point, data storage is an unknown. I hope that these records we are currently capturing are going to be preserved, but as you said, we don’t know. Yes, you are entirely correct, we need to value these creatures now so that 100 years from now, they are not but a distant memory in …

Thanks @elenmirie - there’s some helpful tips there. I don’t have great vision and it isn’t always possible for me to see things well in the field. If I can get a photo, I can put it on the computer screen and enlarge it. Not being able to see well means I can ‘finesse’ the focus on my phone but not…

If in doubt post and report - nobody ever got into trouble for recording too much data

As an M.S. Zoology, PhD. parasite genetics, w/ hobby in endangered plant conservation surveys, I’m sorry to say: I have no interest whatsoever in your 10th observation of a garden denizen. On a par with TV advertising where I hit the mute button. What for? You may consider checking your rate on numb…

I view this differently. iNaturalist has a huge dataset of verifiable records what’s where when. Much of the iNaturalist data I’ll never use. Probably some of mine will never be used. I can’t know what others will want someday. Even flowering times of cultivated plants might prove useful some d…

There’s another problem, in some regions plants get zero attention, plus people don’t care about cultivated stuff, I remember checking California plants, saw hundreds (in fact thousands) of RG plants that are obviously cultivated. People see a plant in a pot (like a palm, not a weed) and think yeah,…

The problem becomes when people are going through observations to identify, and 90% of them are common or invasive taxa that anyone would have in their back yard. In that case people with expertise give up trying to filter the signal from the noise, and the interesting things get left unidentified.

iNat posting etiquette questions

General

KrisAtkinsonf August 16, 2020, 8:12pm 19

But… she’s overobserving her artificial garden…

Topic		Replies	Views
Should I post multiple observations of same species or possibly same individuals at same location at different hours or days? General question	24	3796	January 3, 2021
How many of the same species do I post if I see it on a regular basis? General	41	4889	September 9, 2019
How often to make observations of local organisms? General question	22	1526	October 6, 2023
Reobservations…is it useful to post observations of species I have posted previously? General question	29	1350	February 19, 2023
Excessive observing? General	85	7639	December 4, 2023

iNat posting etiquette questions

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