I usually isolate a group of insects I’m familiar with and am in a mood to identify. Even after an hour, it feels like I’ve done a lot, but realize I have barely scratched the surface. And even then, need someone to also confirm the identification to make it RG.
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It needs to be said, since I have noticed that not everyone knows: if someone observed pictures of many species as one observation, you don’t automatically push it back to State of Matter life. that’s only if there are organisms from more than one kingdom. To illustrate:
Five different species, of which three are Dicots and two are Monocots: you ID as Flowering Plants.
Eleven different species, of which ten are Flowering Plants and one is a chicken: okay, that you ID as State of Matter Life.
I am seeing too many multispecies observations in which all of the species present are Plants, Flowering Plants, or even Dicots, yet someone thought they had to push it to State of Matter life.
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I leave a comment and no ID.
If people start adding a broad (or outright wrong) ID … I unfollow.
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Might be so that @lotteryd will see it and add the second ID needed for casual to happen. Otherwise it may sit awhile. I’m not saying I do it that way, but it is faster.
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Right, I don’t blame people for slapping a Life on there rather than go through a bunch of pics just to check for being in same Kingdom or not. I figure any extra hands who can help put those to Casual are the kind of people who check Life. We can always come back through Life Casual later to bump them around better, if we want.
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I found one the other day for bluets (the flowers) which had been marked as bluets (damselflies). It was clearly a mistake It almost did the same to me as I moved it to the correct one! The other person quickly corrected theirs, it probably popped up in their notifications I’d guess.
I’m not sure if it is linked to the new update…but it seems to pop up a LOT more slowly lately as you start typing in, and then it tends to flip around quick as you click. I’m getting a lot of near misses myself these last few days.
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I have made just about every possible error in identification and mis-clicking. Unfortunately, I seem to be making more lately. I have told myself, “Don’t ID when you’re tired,” and “Slow down,” good rules that I routinely ignore. Unfortunately, I’m likely to make more of these errors as I get older. I hope they continue to be a small percentage of my identifications, but if not, let me know.
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I find the real danger of misIDs for me is when I review photos on iNat on my cellphone. I often need the better resolution and bigger image of a computer screen. Also it’s easier to “mis-click” on a phone which I do regularly anyways.
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Question: if the observer does come back and separate them, does that move them out of casual? Because if not, I cannot in good faith deliberately move them into casual.
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It would not move out of casual unless the observer knows to counter-act the “as good as it can be” checkbox.
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At the very least, separating the photos will put all but the original one back into “needs ID,” I think.
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Too bad there isn’t notification for separating photos. It is hard to follow up. But if they are left at the common denominator, such as Dicot, someone can make a species ID without looking at remaining images and someone else can second that. Then you have images not representing the first species possibly included in exported image banks which starts to confuse things.
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I just tried your link to see my numbers and came up with surprising numbers as both leading and improving were much higher than I expected. I certainly was not expecting a near 50/50 split between supporting and improving/leading.
I remember the days when I first started on iNat when my observations would go without anyone providing any ID at all, not even a supporting one. It felt pretty lousy and I stopped using iNat for quite a few years. Now that I’m doing some identifying, I have no problem providing supporting IDs, especially if it encourages newcomers to not give up hope.
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This is a little harsh- unless this is a common problem, it’s a mistake and not the end of the world. I see a lot of people not caring about the quality of observations or their interactions on here, but this scenario is rare in my experience and not from a lack of caring.
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How often do you look at State of Matter Life? I have been finding it fairly frequently; another example was an earthworm (subclass Oligochaeta) which one person identified as the plant genus Oligochaeta. What I see even more frequently is cases where there is a plant genus and an animal genus with the same name, and someone picks the wrong one. I see that at least every few pages.
I wouldn’t say it is a lack of caring. It looks more like either a case of “haste makes waste” or that people are too dependent on their mobile phones for a job that would be better suited to a home computer.
I understand uploading from a mobile phone – you take your pictures in the field and upload them in real time. But making identifications just seems like a job that inherently requires a larger screen for adequate visibility.
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I’m on a laptop. I look at the list of suggestions, choose the one I want, click.
And check that iNat and I are still on the same page. It happens that my chosen click and iNat’s choice are not the same. Glitch which I sort promptly.
Mobile is my only internet connection.
When I ID, I enlarge each observation while viewing. No, not as well as a larger screen device, but sufficient for basic ID. Yes, it’s more difficult and older, misshaped fingers make it more so. I have to say that the mix up you’re seeing ( plant vs animal same name) would be as easy on a larger device, as it’s still a quick click at a last second without proper check. Like hitting send on a text and then noticing the error.
If you find an incorrect id fix it, let the ider know. But please don’t discourage mobile users from the task. Budget and availability constraints shouldn’t be a barrier.
( Nothing personal intended, and nothing personal taken.)
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On that note, do different platforms cut off part of the words? I am trying to find an explanation as to why every American Holly (Ilex opaca) in State of Matter Life is there because the observer set the initial ID as Native Holly Leafminer (Phytomyza ilicicola), an insect, when none of them show any leaf blemishes.
Now, if they were trying to identify it as a “native holly” and couldn’t see the word “leafminer,” that is one problem; whereas if they were trying to identify it as a “native holly” and just weren’t paying attention enough to notice that there was another word there, that is a different problem.
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I think this may be an issue with the AI now suggesting the leafminer more frequently now.
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AI always suggests the animal first.
Recently it was palmchat (the bird) when all they wanted was palm trees.
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