Step 1: switch ON iNaturalist Activity Notifications for ‘Confirming IDs’ (1st screenshot above)
Step 2: wait for users to add a species-level Confirming ID to your species-level Obs (Obs #1 above): you get a Notification as expected (2nd screenshot above)
Step 3: wait again for users to add a subspecies-level Confirming ID to your subspecies-level Obs (Obs #2 above): you don’t get a notification this time… even though it was expected (“be notified about IDs that agree with yours”)
Then rather than a bug, there’s at least some inconsistency to fix, considering that the descriptive text for that ‘Infraspecies IDs’ switch is:
be notified about IDs of taxa below species-level […] that agree with your species-level ID.
I do not request notifications for “refining” IDs, indeed. For the obs #2, there is no “species-level ID” that a subsequent “below species-level ID” could agree with.
A rephrasing of the ‘Infraspecies IDs’ switch is in order?
I think “agrees with your species-level ID” means they agree with the species you IDed it as, even if you IDed it to a finer level. I think that text is just there to make it extra clear that you will still get notifications for subspecies level IDs that disagree with your species-level. I can see how you misinterpreted the text, but I don’t think this is a bug or that the text is incorrect as written.
Disagreements always (?) trigger notifications, that’s a given.
I still can’t figure why it mentions ‘species-level’ in that description. Wouldn’t the paragraph still be valid in all cases, and less ambiguous, by getting rid of these words? (altered description below: )
If you turn this off, you will no longer be notified about IDs of taxa below species-level (like subspecies and varieties) that agree with your ID. You will be notified if they disagree with your ID or if they contain additional remarks.
Sure, but it’s not a given that everyone opening the settings page will know this, so it’s sensible to include that text.
I think just because they usually only use the term “agreeing ID” to refer to identical IDs, not refining ones, e.g. in the description of the notification setting “confirming IDs”. You’re right that that text would still probably only have the one interpretation if read carefully, but it would mean using “agreeing IDs” in a sense not compatible with the usual definition here.
I agree 100%. This thread is definitely not about that sentence, it’s perfectly fine where it is.
About “agreeing ID” I find no trace of this term on the Settings > Notifications page (I’m using the ‘English’ version of the website, btw), I’m not sure why.
Now I’m wondering whether the ‘species-level’ mention was deliberately added to imply that “Genus-level ID + confirming Subspecies-level ID” shall behave differently than “[Sub]Species-level ID + confirming Subspecies-level ID”. I’ll have to test that hypothesis by posting a genus-level ID then waiting (a loooong time I fear) for some confirming ssp-level ID.
As it is, it seems there’s no solution to get notified only of IDs that confirm exactly (same taxon, same level) ours.
