In recent weeks, at least four separate threads for organisms of a specific color were created – one for blue, red, yellow, and now transparent.
Don’t get me wrong, I love these threads, but wouldn’t it be simpler to just make a few projects? I know a project called Blue! exists, so why not?
Just a thought.
Right. A lot of Forum threads could be projects instead or in addition. Much of the giant birding one, for example. “Spooky Observations” which usually pops up around October. Pretty much any thread which offers an opportunity for examples. And the Mi Casa es Su Casa thread generated a lot of data for an existing Project.
I tend to think of these threads as palate cleansers, a balance for the heavier stuff that may be going on in the Forum or in people’s lives. If there seem to be more recently, it may just be that people are seeking more of that right now.
I find threads that do not meet my needs, interests, or for me abilities are pretty easily skipped and utilize the UNtrack option liberally.
Personally, I love the threads because it shows me species/photos I wouldn’t see otherwise. Yes, I could go and look at projects, but history says I won’t.These are fun and fascinating, and, yes,
I use my iPhone for everything, so the list of joined projects gets too long, I have to remember to add them, and for me these are popping up in the dregs of winter. Perfect timing for “seeing” stuff while I’m frustrated by “cabin fever”!
Spots, stripes, legs, color and a lot to 
Thank you @jdmore for pointing me to the warning about not promoting projects on the forum. I’m removing my post here accordingly.
I think I’ve read that too, however it’s through the forum I’ve found projects I like.
There are projects for EVERYTHING and I get overwhelmed looking.
Yes, it could be a project, I suppose, but I’ve been using the threads to unwind–as others have suggested. I just have been enjoying looking back through old photos to see if I have one that is bright, colorful, and meets the requirements for each thread. It also allows me to reflect on calmer better moments in the process. And others’ posts give me a chance to see some equally calming but more exotic photos. I could do this on iNat directly, but there’s also pleasant interaction with fellow iNatters–not a lot but some to remind me that the natural world is out there and there are people who appreciate it with me. Right now, I am looking for whatever I can to reduce stress.
I like these threads because I think they can be engaging for everyone. Everyone can share their observations, or if they feel they don’t have one matching the “prompt”, they still get a curated list of cool observations matching the criteria.
I think still want to do the purple/pink one, but I thought I’d wait a few days.
To the best of my understanding, that rule means that we are not supposed to start threads for the purpose of promoting projects. If a given project is relevant to an existing discussion, that is a different situation.
It is in the pinned topic at the top of the General Category. It should probably be added to the Forum Guidelines page for better visibility, and since it is really intended to apply to any category.
I hope everyone understands how using the Forum to promote the thousands of fun, interesting, and worthy projects on iNaturalist could quickly get out of hand and overwhelm the main purposes of the Forum.
OK, the public has spoken…
Purple and pink are 2 very different colours.
Not the way those threads are going. Anything even a bit ruddy or rusty qualifies as “red.”
Please remember that not every culture and individual has the same definition of what constitutes each color.
I would rather see examples of a broad spectrum of ‘reds’ than people too worried to post because their picture doesn’t fit one forum user’s definition of ‘red’.
Fair enough.
The ‘wine-dark sea’ is because Ancient Greek does not have a word for blue.
Similarly, the color of traffic lights in Korea goes red - yellow - blue due to a different categorization of colors (‘grue’). On the other hand, linguistic studies using color tiles have shown that Korean speakers tend to distinguish between ‘yellow’ and ‘green’ more consistently than English speakers due to the presence of 연두색 as a ‘core’ color word in Korean.
It had at least two words for blue: kyaneos and glaukos. As with many cultures throughout history, the ancient greeks divided up the colour spectrum differently to how we do today. The term kyaneos covered a range from what we would call almost black to darkish blue, whereas glaukos included greyish blues and blueish greens (as well as e.g. olive-green). The modern english words cyan and glaucous are derived from these ancient greek terms, although their meaning has shifted somewhat. In addition to the mainly blue colour terms, porphyreos covered a wide range from blueish purple to purplish red.
There are numerous modern myths about ancient colour terms. They mostly come from misinterpretations of poetic metaphors. There’s no real agreement amongst scholars of ancient greek on how best to translate “wine-dark sea” (epi oinopa ponton). A more literal translation might be “wine-looking sea”, so it’s unclear which aspects of wine are being referred to. It may have had very little to do with a specific colour at all. This might make it akin to an english phrase like “leaden seas”, which can evoke much more than simply the colour of the metal lead.