Many IDs and Zero Observations

trawl? (I think) It reads like you are “messing with” users :slightly_smiling_face:

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yes, one of the original meanings of troll long before the internet came around and the word developed a new meaning

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semantics

Edited: In order to fully understand my statement, please read the whole narrative as a concise proclamation. And please do not only focus on a tiny part of one sentence in order to show negative opinions.

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Yes - words matter. And it matters that we understand what you intended to say to us.

Ditto. Edit. We DID read all your words, and chew over what troll could mean in your context. Remember iNat is global. English is my first language, and I have never seen or heard troll used in that way. But I can make sense of your paragraph if I interpret it as - you choose to seek out interesting obs - we each have our own way to find what interests us.

But digging thru definitions I found -

mainly US
to search among a large number or many different places to find information you want

or
If you troll through files, you look through them in a casual way.
[mainly British, informal]

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I feel that! “human tissue remains”*

Enough so that I have a project for some of that. ;) Just a stub right now but it will look better once I put all my relevant favorites in there.

Re why I haven’t really made any observations vs IDs in a while, as I relearn how to see I found my brain is taxed by figuring out layers of lenses or something so binoculars take precedence over phone/camera views (eventually I’ll get to hand lens for moss and then microscope for slime molds).

Meanwhile, looking at a high volume of fresh images per day is like physical therapy for the “new eye system.” ID iNatting FTW, seriously!

*lol I just noticed right above

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Interesting project - that was fun. I raise you one fungus.

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In my own case, I used to post my butterfly observations on a different citizen science platform until various technical problems that they refused to resolve led me to give up on it. At the time, I was somewhat fed up with citizen science platforms and iNat appeared to only offer the ability to upload observations individually (vs checklists). With my loss of faith in online platforms, combined with the huge overhead of having to upload each observation individually, I opted for putting my observations into a spreadsheet and then putting the observations directly into our regional database (skipping the middle man). At this point, my backlog is so huge, and I spend so much time reviewing other people’s observations that I’m unlikely to ever be able to get around to putting my own observations up on iNat. Maybe someday, if I become housebound for some reason…

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The earlier you start uploading, the easier it will be for you.

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There are only so many hours in the day. Too busy making sure other folks’ observations are ID’d correctly (and carefully/gently explaining corrections). Isn’t there a saying about the cobbler’s children going unshod?

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A person who does many snake observations on iNat is @billmcgtenn, whom I appreciate and am thankful for. He has around 60,500 identifications, but only 2 observations. He corrects a lot of the more difficult genera that I and many people misidentify, is a top identifier for many taxa, and is an overall very helpful user. I have a lot of respect for him.

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A friend of mine, @tmurray74, has been photographing insects (and birds and turtles and everything, really) exceptionally well for decades. He has been adding his older photos to iNat for some time now, but he just retired and has turned his attention to uploading some 9,000 older photos. At least here in New England, uploading older photos is a fun way to spend the winter, when insects are few and far between.

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Too true unfortunately. And that’s precisely why my work verifying other people’s observations doesn’t stop in the winter (though the volume does decrease considerably). These are often observations that were previously reported on other platforms, so I not only have to verify them on iNat, but I also have to reconcile any discrepancies that result. Each keener seems to dream up new and innovative ways of making more work for me. Winter is also when I download the previous season’s observations for processing and inclusion in our regional database, which is a major task. Plus, winter doesn’t actually keep me indoors (yet) and I do have other pursuits. As it stands, the amount of time I spend on this stuff is likely equivalent to a full time job.

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I know exactly whereof you speak. We diligent sorts should remember to have fun now and then.

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Ditto. Edit. We DID read all your words, and chew over what troll could mean in your context.

Thank you, Diana (@dianastuder). It could be that I was being a bit obtuse with my predicate. I have a different word that I use for the negative connotation of troll. And that word is “creeper”; which I am not.
This has been a fun exercise for my neurons, but I must focus on other stuff (things, responsibilities, etc.).
Feel free to follow me. I may not post observations often, but it is my goal to take my camera equipment out and enjoy using it more.
I Eat My Yard. You should eat yours too!
-Kenn :tomato: :tomato: :tomato:

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We do! Makes a good salad ingredient, or green garnish. But we only eat the leaves, not the trunk and branches.

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