I visit a local nature reserve and often post my photos here on iNaturalist to get confirmation of identifications. Also I, and fellow photographers, post onto a “Friends of” face book page. Is it possible to set up an iNaturalist account that several people can upload to?
You could create an account that is the iNaturalist version of the FB page, and just share the username and password with everyone (this is what I do for my conservation-centered organization). Or, if you want a place where a bunch of people’s observations are compiled, you can set up a project that only specific members can be part of based on what you select.
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That’s a horrible idea. Who follows up on the community’s ID’s and comments if needed? Who takes responsibility for the account?
If you’re only interested in identifications and not the community aspect of iNaturalist, why not just use Seek, and skip the step where you upload the observation? Honest question.
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A better option perhaps is to make a project for the nature reserve that collects observations from the users who joined the project. That way you can find all such observations in a convenient place. But also this way everyone can manage their account the way they see fit (even tomorrow or in a few years), or they can even join or leave the project. You as the creator of the project don’t have to worry what the other users do or don’t do.
Edit - I looked at your observations and presumably you’re talking about Smestow Valley? A project could look like this, for example https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/friends-of-smestow-valley-lnr. If you join it, your observations will show up.
There’s also this existing project, https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/explore-smestow-valley-lnr, which you’re a member of. Though it looks like that one was set up to last only until April 1, 2026.
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I agree that shared accounts should generally be avoided due to inevitable security concerns with sharing logins, but this criticism seems a bit hasty and overly strongly worded. There is no reason that a shared account can’t have someone who follows up on IDs and comments and generally takes responsibility. There are many reasons to upload observations other than to get IDs, such as keeping track of what was observed where and when.
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I would discourage multiuser accounts in most situations for a variety of reasons (difficult to determine responsibility for content, issues when users change, issues with asserting copyright, potential issues with users having “double votes” by using a multiuser account and then their own personal one). Some exceptions would be official organizational accounts, classroom accounts, I’ve seen some couple accounts (though those can all have some of those issues too).
I think the best solution is to make a project gathering observations from the FB groups users together. It could be traditional or collection depending on how the contributors use iNat and their wants.
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Please don’t do this. iNat is a social network at heart, peopel should be posting their own observations to their own accounts.
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I think it’s assumed you would have a point person. For example, my zoo has an account that I set up and am the point person on. We don’t really partake in the identification side of things - the purpose is to have a means of making observations to promote our conservation initiatives. We have interns that will log on to the account to make observations - but nothing more. It is secure because it is all done very intentionally and at the discretion of staff. I know we are not the only organization that does this.
I think as a zoo we would fall under this, no?
If what I am doing is against the rules, please let me know - I hadn’t realized as I’ve seen lots of conservation organizations represented under accounts. As I mentioned before I can assure that we are not just posting the credentials online or anything - it is highly controlled.
I apologize if my suggestion was offensive, and if it is indeed unwanted. I just was sharing what my organization does as an option. I am 99% sure other zoos do this too, as well as conservation-focused organizations, but if I have assumed incorrectly and done something wrong please let me know.
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I appreciate this - this is EXACTLY what we made our profile for. Additionally, we did not feel it appropriate to force our interns to get iNat accounts, and wanted to make it more accessible for them by having an official account.
Additionally, we have 1 refurbed device that the interns use, so that they don’t have to log on to their own phones. There is like, max 4 people that have the log-in for the account - all trusted staff.
Again, if this method is breaking the rules, I can absolutely fix that. I probably shouldn’t have suggested this idea, but I was thinking it goes on a case by case basis and not having the specifics of OP’s situation I thought I would at least share what we do and what has worked for us.
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This sounds in general like a reasonable use case for an organizational account. All users are employees, there’s one employee clearly running the account, account activity is clearly related to organization specific activities, no “double-voting”, etc.
The only issue that I would see is with it being a primarily observation posting account. Staff guidance has been:
This also highlights another issue with organizational accounts which is that sometimes the contact person uses their personal work email instead of an institutional one, in which case login info can be lost if they leave the organization.
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The account is under the organization’s email, so no worries there.
The purpose of the account is to have our interns take observations to gather data about wildlife on zoo and park grounds - but we do not feel comfortable forcing them to use their own accounts, which is why we created an organization account logged into a single old phone that they then take outside and use. Is there an alternative that y’all would suggest in this case?
I’m quite confused now - so if the organization account shouldn’t be used primarily for identification (ours wasn’t) but also not for observations, what would be the other purpose of it, other than potentially making a project and ending it there? I definitely don’t mean to bring this conversation away from the original post, but these responses have made me inclined to end the use of our account to avoid further misunderstanding. I don’t want to be managing something that hinders the primary goal of iNat.
EDIT: Okay, I’ve read the linked discussion and pondered about it - I think I have a game plan moving forward following the guidelines suggested. I do apologize for sidelining the original discussion - I think the assumption I made about the situation at hand differed from the assumptions others made (for example, we have a small staff, but that might not be the case for OP as that wasn’t outlined). Thank y’all for your patience!
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Not offensive but in my opinion really bad advice for someone who wants to collect observations from facebook friends.
Yes, I just misunderstood the question, as I mentioned before - I didn’t think it was just for Facebook friends, I understood it as an organization page (I’m familiar with orgs titled “friends of” followed by their focus, and some of the ones I am know of are conservation based orgs) which is why I decided to give input based on what my organization does. You’re right that it wasn’t good advice, and I didn’t mean to encourage breaking guidelines as I totally understand why they are in place.
I admit it was not phrased clearly or well or in good judgement, and I sincerely apologize for that. I totally didn’t mean any harm.
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At the risk of hijacking the conversation even further, I’m following this discussion with great interest because, along with several other members of the land-trust organization I volunteer for, we’ve been discussing setting up an organizational account primarily to act as a home for the many projects we’ve been using to engage with our members and our community. I’ve been hosting these projects on my own account, but I want others to be able to manage them over time in the event that I can’t, for whatever reason. (I’m also starting to feel like my own account is getting a bit cluttered with these projects, which I set up but which really aren’t “mine.”)
The account I envision would not have any observations or identifications, would be tied to a staff e-mail so that anyone in the organization could access it, and its profile page would direct users to our library of projects (none of which would be traditional projects; most are bioblitz-style projects tied to events, which may also be grouped into umbrella projects). Contacts for individual members of the organization would be listed in the profile so that there’s always someone to report to if any problems arise with the account.
This seems similar to other organizational accounts I’ve seen on iNat, though I haven’t seen any that seem to be specifically designed to host (and direct members to) projects and their journals.
Just to bring it back around to your question, @retrosnapper, I agree that having a group account for Facebook group members isn’t necessary. A better (and probably more fun) solution would be to have the members of the FB group create their own accounts (if they don’t already have them) and then make a project to gather the observations of those FB group members. Lots of such projects already exist (see https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/women-in-the-field-southeast and https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kamloops-wildflower-project, both linked to FB groups), and they seem to provide the sense of community that it sounds like you’re looking for.
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I don’t think it’s against the rules, necessarily - at least, it’s not against the terms of use:
Your iNaturalist Account and Site. If You create an account on the Platform, You are responsible for maintaining the security of Your account, and You are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the account. You must not post content to Your account in a misleading or unlawful manner, including in a manner intended to trade on the name or reputation of others. iNaturalist may, at its discretion, change or remove any content that it considers inappropriate or unlawful. Please immediately notify iNaturalist of any unauthorized uses of Your account or any other breaches of security. iNaturalist will not be liable for any acts or omissions by You, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.
But it’s probably better, where possible, to have one account per person, and to use iNat’s features like projects. Gives better credit for the actual authors of observations, too.
Hi, I have managed to set up a project for Pendeford Mill Nature Reserve. However, I cannot set up the location. Therefore, the project links to every observation, not just those from the specific naturte reserve. How do I set that up? Thanks
If the place doesn’t exist in iNat yet, you will need to make it, see:
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I see you already set up the place, good work. https://www.inaturalist.org/places/pendeford-mill-nature-reserve. You should be all set.
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