Thank you. I’ve read through the neurodiversity thread quite a bit actually, and thought it was really validating. I am not neurodivergent, but I do think a lot of my son’s mannerisms have grown on me and I find myself enjoying a lot of the repetitiveness of things too. It’s very nice to know it’s seen as a strength, and not a weakness, among people here. I think people have done an incredible job of creating a very safe and pleasant community all across the board here.
I also will say, I do know about the whole car picture thing. And yes, I do it a lot. A lot of them are from my son, my daughter does it sometimes too, though she tries to take more artistic pictures of things, whereas my son just tries to get as many as possible and he actually does a pretty good job usually. I’ve added stuff to the one project, I think it was something with the word “road” in it. I will admit though, I’ve slacked a lot in adding to it just because a lot of the time I go really fast with uploading stuff. It’s nice to know that it isn’t an unheard of practice.
My work involves a lot of car/bus/van travel, so whenever my son is with me he takes pictures out the window essentially the entire time. A lot of them never make the cut because it is completely indecipherable but a lot of them are great, too.
Thank you for the very kind comment. I really appreciate it.
I’m glad you stuck with iNat after learning better. I think the proposed onboarding changes are very much needed, there’s a lot of people that go in with assumptions on how the platform works and don’t change their behavior after being corrected. But I’m always glad to hear that everyone has made mistakes at one point or another.
I’m a pretty new iNat user, so I’m sure I’m still making plenty of mistakes, but for the first week or so I was using iNat, I thought the IDs were more supposed to be “best guesses” in the vein of computer vision training, so there was a lot of “well it sure looks like the thing in the CV” IDs with organisms I was very unfamiliar with. I learned quickly enough when experts kept correcting me on IDs, and have been “staying in my lane” now, but oh boy is it embarrassing still to think about!
That’s another reason that motivated me to share. I think if I made the mistake, a lot of other people surely are too, and it may be mistaken for just kind of being a jerk. I think I probably seemed like a jerk because I didn’t answer anybody until my account was suspended so it sort of felt like too little too late. I guess I just feel guilty still because it’s painfully clear to me now, but you’re right, it’s all a learning experience.
As far as the image quality goes, I’ve had a lot of people complain about certain images due to how bad the quality is, which I understand, but on the other hand, there’s been various times where those exact observations are later identified by multiple other people who feel they can decipher it confidently. Some people are downright rude about it as well, which really disappoints me because there is absolutely nothing against the rules with uploading a low quality picture. I do always assume people are not deliberately being mean but I’ve gotten comments like “were these taken by a child?” and honestly sometimes, yes they were. It still just seems over the top and unnecessary. I feel like being nice is great and all people should try to do it whenever they can. I don’t take it personally when stuff like that happens. My mentality is similar to yours, where if I see any benefit it uploading it, it’s going to go up.
I’m really proud of how informed my kids are on their surroundings because of iNaturalist. I’ve always really loved science but was never that good at it. Both my kids are already far more intelligent than I was when I was that young, especially with nature. They will get super excited over seeing a certain type of plant and develop favorites, most of which are usually pretty mundane species which I’ve always found funny. The fact that they even have opinions on it though makes me really happy because they clearly are knowledgeable.
He’s especially into that. I’ve always thought it’s really helpful too, because a lot of things people wouldn’t even pay mind to are the first things he notices and wants to document. A lot of them end up being invasive too, so the representation seems more important in those instances. Thank you for the kind comment.
I definitely feel less guilt after starting this conversation. I made it with the intention to bring awareness to potential problems people have, while also clarifying I have great remorse about it, and both of those things I feel much better about! People seem to be more on the same page than I thought after reading different posts on here.
I’d like to think I’ve added much more useful stuff than harmful stuff, so I would like to think it somehow makes up for it. Thank you!
Yes, I’d like to think that type of awareness and willingness to help really contributes positively and I intend to do that whenever the opportunity arises.
Also thank you for including that. I’ve read that, in portions, and found it really nice. I love the support and kindness majority of people provide on here.
The simplicity of the app is helpful and I think contributes a lot to accessibility, but I do think there could be some sort of immediate tutorial or any type of guidance given at the start because there is not a lot to work with. It’s all very clear to me now, but as somebody just picking up the app and figure it out, there’s a lot of things that go unnoticed or misunderstood. It seems like everybody is aware that there’s room for improvement though so that’s good to see.
No worries about taking your time or even not adding observations to the project, and apologies if you’re already aware of it, but for projects like this I find the batch editing function really speeds things up (accessible from the Edit Observations page on the website dashboard). For example you can search for all observations from a specific date, select them all, unselect any obs that aren’t applicable, and add the rest to a project all in one go.
As for your original post, I agree with the others that you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it. Thanks for sharing your experience, it helps for understanding how a lot of other newcomers use the app and hopefully helps with improving the experience when the app is newly installed.
I do harbor less guilt after making this. I felt like maybe I needed to clear my name to make myself feel better, which is maybe a bit selfish or unnecessary. I think the story has lessons in it for everybody though, so it’s a win-win.
I definitely have made that mistake before too. If you listen to what people say, you learn quick, but you really have to know to listen! It’s much more fun and enjoyable when you are using it the right way. I’m happy to see other people openly talk about some of the goofy mistakes that get made. Better than sweeping it under the carpet, especially if they’re commonly happening, which I suspect they are.
Thanks, I appreciate that. I recommend the app for uploading things really fast, if you can navigate your phone quickly. It’s very simple and easy to use, but partially because there is not nearly as much to interact with as there is on the site.
Thank you, I appreciate that. I wish I made this post around a year and a half ago, as I would’ve been dealing with a lot less guilt from then until now.
I do not think there is any “argument”; just a lot of consensus that better “on boarding” is highly desirable for all platforms; and especially for iOS App users.
i want to echo what a lot of people said and say i dont think you have anything to be sorry for, but i definitely think you highlight a lot of issues with the way the app works and is promoted. the lack of a message function is a real issue since a lot of people don’t know of, or at least don’t use, the web version. its unfortunate that you got a suspension without ever having properly received warning that you were not using the app properly.
and ive been to events in-person that describe the inaturalist app in a way that could easily make people interpret the app similarly to the way that you did initially - it makes sense when most people just explain it as an identification app and dont explain the community part well or at all (i dont know where the line is between corrections that people appreciate and corrections that make me seem insufferable and abrasive so i admittedly do not do my part to elucidate how the app works all the time…), i think that the seek app is the one that is more in line with just getting computer generated IDs in your own little bubble, but i dont really use it so im not sure. having a little notice that explains that when downloading inaturalist for the first time might be helpful.
im glad you and your family have not been discouraged by the initial hiccups. i think its awesome how passionate your kids are - developing opinions and favorites with mundane species, i love that :) i especially like hearing your son wants to document every little thing even the common stuff. common species can be super under-represented as a lot of people just ignore them as common background noise so its good to observe them. eventually you realize how little you actually knew about all the common stuff! :)
also i think kids are ok to use the app as long as its with adult supervision, and that you can post things that are not yours as long as you have the permission of the person who did take the picture, so you should be fine there
what a thoughtful writeup! I will say that, while it’s good that you’re accepting responsibility, none of that was entirely your fault. the iNaturalist website is fairly intuitive, but the app makes it far too easy to use iNat as an identification tool without ever knowing how the site as a whole works. combine that with the modern impulse to use technology to get blind answers to surface level questions like species IDs, and you get a lot of people like your past self misunderstanding iNaturalist through no particular fault of their own.
I also want to add that my autism also loves the routine of documenting observations, so I relate to your son’s experience!
