relatable.
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As someone whoâs deal with depression for most of my adult life, Iâve realized that when itâs bad, Iâll frequently read more harshness into something fairly minor than it really had. Itâs hard to realize that in the moment of course. And I have definitely read more into something or overreacted to something based on my mental state at the time.
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I mean, for sure iâve done that too. Most people have. But i just donât think the issue here is people being too sensitive. I think the issue is people being treated unequally. Someone is always gonna get offended or hurt, and then people have to navigate that and figure it out. But that isnât the issue that i think is causing this problem on iNat. At least not the main part of it. Though i canât speak to the exact situation of the original poster of course.
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I have had 4 weeks of cold turkey.
Once I have helped to ID for Great Southern Bioblitz, I will rethink spending so many hours every day on iNat in future.
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Iâve had about 3 weeks of cold turkey. Thanksgiving Day leftovers, here in the U.S., and Iâm ready for some change. ;-)
But I get what youâre saying. The best way to assess if youâre still interested in something is to step away from it for a while.
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So sorry youâve had other than positive experiences with some of those on iNat. I DO feel/think that the vast majority of users are kind and willing to be helpful. That has been my experience thus far, since 2014 when first I joined as a Virginia Master Naturalist. I Hope you continue to use and find helpful iNat. Observers!
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Sounds like somewhere Iâve probably been, years ago. I remember being told something like:
In the world, there is the worldâs horriblest hater, and the worldâs most delicate snowflake, and the worldâs greatest supporter, and the worldâs most bullet proof sufferer.
Everybody else is somewhere in between - thatâs you and me.
Whatever you do, youâll get some knockers, and some supporters.
If you donât do it, you wonât get either.
Just go for it.
BUT on the other hand, if youâre getting lots of flack, where other people arenât, maybe thatâs a message that isnât about how nasty they are. In any case, you canât change their behaviour, only your own.
Even Galileo, in spite of being right, had to make a decision while he was hanging head down over a fire.
I dunno. Maybe Iâm just glad Iâve got the luxury of participating in this discussion, instead of living in Gaza right now.
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(Galileo -that snowflake!- has never found himself hanging over a fire, the piece of delicatessen was Giordano Bruno)
(Now Iâm back to lurking)
A shoutout to @tiwane for all your work on moderating, and the many times youâve been on the receiving end of less than ideal behavior. This is a good reminder, that we often donât know who is on the other end, and that it shouldnât matter anyway: be nice!
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Iâve been a moderator for a software support forum for over 15 years and I have seen my fair share of internet personalities that are less than appropriate. In the end, though, we donât know anything about the person who has slighted us. They could be socially awkward, have mental challenges, or have no control in their lives so they try to control others. I know it stings to have something you enjoy sullied by the actions of someone, but rather than focusing on that one individual, focus on the 99.9% of the rest of the forum who are supportive and willing to help you learn. Itâs so easy, and completely human, to focus on the things that hurt, but if you do that, you can easily miss all the good thatâs here.
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There is a proverb, one of my most loved: People that do nothing don´t make mistakes! As for me and others âdoing nothingâ is no option, mistakes are part of the game.
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We could respond that doing nothing at all in order to avoid making mistakes is one of the biggest mistakes we can make. 
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[Forget it. If replying is âoff-topicâ â Iâll just delete it.]
I love water microscopy, though did not find the OPâs observations on iNat. I hope you are active.
INat has a few basic rules for interacting with the site that if you follow you wonât have any problems. An obligation to ID the records of others even when youâre not fully confident of the ID is not one of them.
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I doubt anyone here is suggesting that we offer an ID on someoneâs observation when we are not confident about performing that action correctly. Such restraint, though, need not confine us to inaction. Thereâs plenty of other constructive activity in which any of us can engage instead, such as to perform IDs on what we do know, or to do some reading or unrecorded observing to learn something new.
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This absolutely DOES happen. I often ID only to genus when the photo is not of high enough quality to ID to species or if there is uncertainty as to which visually cryptic species it is. I often have people ask why I wonât agree with their ID, which is usually CV generated. And itâs clear, theyâre not asking what Iâm missing knowledge-wise, but more along the lines of âhow could you possibly NOT agree that it is species X when itâs obvious to me?â And yes, each time it happens there is the emotional part of the brain that says, fine, then I just wonât ID any of these.
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I had someone basically telling me if I canât ID to subspecies I shouldnât ID at all. 
But Iâve interacted with thousands of people via IDing on this site, so it would be pretty surprising if all of those understood entirely how the site works and had excellent social and communicative skills.
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Of course it does happen, even though it shouldnât. Fortunately, no one in this discussion has written in favor of such careless identification. Clearly the overall sentiment is against such behavior.
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Iâm focusing on IDing on iNat this weekend to avoid crying about my rabbit that died last week. 
Crying gave me a three day migraine despite the numerous meds I take to prevent migraines. I feel really guilty because I didnât take her illness as seriously as I should have. I should have gotten her back in for a check up sooner. I didnât realize she was getting worse. She suddenly was obviously in distress so I drove 2 hours in the middle of the night to bring her to the emergency vet in Houston. She went into cardiac arrest just a few minutes after we arrived. RIP Pepper (2014-2024) 
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