Multiple messages - possible or not?

General
1

I would like to inform a number of moth collectors/identifiers across Canada about some information on the identity of some common Eupsilia spp. Is there any way to do this with a bulk message, or would I have to contact each person individually?

3

No, but there is a feature request: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/send-group-messages/4793

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4

i came across this page by @agoranomos the other day: https://seanclifford.github.io/inat-prototype-site/bulk_send_message.html. i’m not sure if it’s fully developed, but assuming it works, i think it would handle what you’re wanting to do.

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5

That sounds like a good solution. Very few of them are on the Forum, unfortunately.

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6

A little bit of an “off-brand” solution, but if you have a personal observation of one of the moths you want to talk about, you could write your message and tag them all in a comment. That way anyone could respond, the others would see it (and could unsubscribe from the “group chat” if needed). I wouldn’t do it on someone else’s observation, but this might be a way to get a convo going.

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7

Several times I have wished there was a way to DM multiple iNaturalist users at once. But the chances for over-use of this feature outweigh the advantages. I would prefer keeping it impossible. I can copy-paste if I really want to send the same message to two people. I don’t want to be on a long receiver list for emails from iNaturalists.

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8

I would tag them in a journal post.

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9

I sent maybe a dozen messages yesterday inviting people in the Watson Preserve project to sign up for the preserve’s emailed newsletter. I just copied and pasted my message.

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10

Yes, what @zdanko said. Use your journal, write a nice post explaining the information and tag them all in.

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11

Good query, I would also like the feature, but also see how it could be mis-used.

Some solutions have been given above, and I have used the following

  1. Copied the list of users I have wanted to tag - then individual copy pasted the message to them (done for about 150 people individually over a period of 3 -4 days) - effectiveness - high
  2. tagged them in an observation (not more then 3 or 4) . Effectiveness- high
  3. Tagged them in a simple / detailed journal post. I suspect this sometimes is not seen by people because the journal messages seem to get ignored - Effectiveness - Low to medium

FYI
ram

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12

Thanks. That’s great to know. Effectiveness is always good! I would not be sending out that many though… Oh, how did you copy the list of users?

And everyone, thank you for the help. All the suggestions have been valuable.

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So this was for a “project” where the list of “observers” and “identifiers” exist.

Went to observers tab, selected from the heading row till the number i wanted > Copy pasted to a spreadsheet -where it formatted into neat rows and columns. Then had the spreadsheet where the user names were in a separate colum

From there it was simple enough to keep a split screen and copy the usernames. (same solution for identifiers though in that case it was only the top 30-40)

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15

I’m going to close this since the original question was answered (“no, not within iNat proper, but there are alternatives”).

Again, if you would like to continue to discuss the existing feature request, that topic is here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/send-group-messages/4793

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