I am not an expert and generally go with whatever the app suggest (unless I know it is wrong) and depend on the experts to correct me. My issue is, I don’t know who is an actually expert, or who is just another person like me, who just enjoys using the app to ID the stuff I see. I wish there was like a badge or something that could be used to know if the person suggesting the ID was an expert in their field. Is there some way to know?
1 Like
You can read the person’s profile and see if they say anything about their focus of attention. Or you can look at the leaderboards for your taxon of interest in the country or region you’re interested in. Neither method gives you an absolute idea of whether someone is an “expert,” in large part because the definition of expert is rather mushy itself.
20 Likes
You can ask their reasons for disagreeing IDs. Any expert should be able to articulate what they’re seeing/hearing that allows them to make their ID. Note, saying they’ve worked in this area or with this species is NOT a reason (that’s the argument from authority). Adequate reasons are evidence-based.
20 Likes
In situations where you do not know the species, have you tried guessing at the genus level instead? That avoids this kind of situation altogether.
10 Likes
You can get a general idea of someone’s interests by looking at their profile. The number of observations or identifications, can also be an indicator, although that is related to how often someone is active here. An expert might not be on here much. If you are uncertain if someone’s ID is correct, ask and they should be able to explain the ID.
Also, the app suggestions aren’t always correct, so it is considered better to only go to the level you personally know to be accurate, rather than waiting for someone to correct you. If you know that a bird is a hawk, but don’t know which hawk species, upload it as a hawk, rather than what the app (CV) says. Or, see what the app suggests, then study those species, and see if you can narrow it down to species before uploading it.
8 Likes
Hmm…? Kind of a lot of extra work to do a ton of research on each suggestion to decide whether to agree with or not, don’t you think?
I would consider a person with degree in their field to be an expert. There are also other ways through community collaboration and confirmation to give users ranking. A person who demonstrate a high degree of accuracy in their field, as confirmed by the community, over a period of time, could be granted a higher ranking as a result. Much in the same way as a submittions gets promoted to Research Grade.
1 Like
As I said in my OP, I am a casual user, so I don’t even know what “Genus level” means.
“Genus level” in this case refers to the taxa level (i.e. Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, etc.) that a observation is IDed at. So if you took a picture of an American robin (Turdus migratorius), IDing it to genus level would be IDing it to Turdus. At species level, it would be the full name shown prior. If you don’t know the specific species but want to get as close possible, IDing to genus level would be a good call. Then, the people that are more knowledgeable in that taxa can bring it to species level.
9 Likes
That’s a good idea, but as a casual user, I probably would not know enough to know if their scientific explanation were correct enough either. I once watch two scientist debate about whether it was better to leave chicken eggs in the carton in the refrigerator or put them in the eggs slots in the refrigerator door (they used to have these). I did not understand much of what they were saying, but just kept thinking that, since 80% of the world that eats chicken eggs cannot afford a refrigerator, the argument was kind of dumb. 
2 Likes
It gets problematic with identifiers with no bio, no photo, and only a handful of IDs, especially when they offer something not previously observed on iNat. It really is in the identifier’s best interest to fill in their bio instead of making us guess.
5 Likes
You might have better success by researching the differences between the relevant species (e.g. looking up field marks, dichotomous keys, etc) than by researching the credentials of people contributing IDs. You are also not under any obligation to select a species that you don’t know how to ID: you can select “oaks” (genus Quercus) instead of a particular oak species if you think something is an oak but don’t know how to tell which kind it is.
By the way, earning a degree in a biology-related field usually does not involve learning how to do field identification of native species, at least at the college I teach at. I’m a math professor with no formal biology training, but I think I’m more interested and knowledgeable about local native plants and how to ID them than many of the biology faculty at my college. A great many expert naturalists are self taught.
32 Likes
Please don’t “agree” on something you can’t personally identify on your own, even if an expert has identified it. That’s not how the site is supposed to work. Instead, you can simply “withdraw” your original incorrect ID without adding a new one.
I would consider that to be one of many, many ways someone can become an expert, and you will shut yourself off from a lot of knowledge if you refuse to learn from self-taught naturalists. Including those who don’t use iNat frequently enough or aren’t willing to participate in a popularity contest to earn votes if there were such a system. The identifications should speak for themselves, regardless of a person’s background.
36 Likes
To completely forthright. I am of an age that, what little life I have left, I want to devote to enjoyment. Things that add an extra burden on me to perfect them, generally get cast aside. Things that bring me joy and that make my life easier generally stay. I leave the devotion to pursuit of perfection to those who feel that is worth their time.
you can leave your observations at ‘unknown’ and a community of people who enjoy IDing them will take care of it
10 Likes
Where did I say I reject people who are self-taught? Show me where I said that. Did you fail to read where I actually suggested a system where self-taught people could reach a higher ranking through community confirmation? Or did you completely miss that part?
I agree. Heres mine.
Who am I? I am a father, a grandfather, a husband, an outdoorsman, an adventurer, an explorer, an armchair philosopher, a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am a multicultural person, speaker of four languages, lover of spicy ethnic and exotic cuisine, and a world traveler.
At this stage of my life, I am an amateur wildlife photographer.
2 Likes
Please don’t leave it at unknown.
14 Likes
Nope, I saw that part, which is what I was responding to when I wrote:
1 Like
No. The suggestions are not always extremely close. It does depend on the quality of the picture, but not always.
3 Likes
Consider relaxing and being less argumentative and defensive with the community trying to answer your questions and offer solutions. I was surprised to see positive replies on your other posts, so I assuming your behavior here is an outlier.
15 Likes