If using only a photo as a basis for an ID, without additional notes, it’s normal that someone would use the photo for ID.
This is a systemic failure of the iNat submit form.
If the submit process required commentary justifying ID, all that would be solved.
This is specially problematic in the field of mushrooms. People put a top photo of a mushroom cap, and ID it to specific species without commentary! Sometimes is obviously wrong just at a glance.
Because the automated iNaturalist algorith is WAY TOO confident about ambiguous species, this leads to a great many over-ID entries.
Of course, anyone who has actually keyed out, or correctly processed the ID, and is only using a picture as a place-holder, not as an ID tool, then the commentary on WHY it was ID’d such should be the default behaviour.
I absolutely agree. Many people seem to ignore notes or accidentally miss them. I usually edit the pictures using a red marker to point out things, because that’s harder to miss. Some people complained and told me not to draw on perfectly good pictures afterwards… lol, it’s hard to please everybody! There’s a lot of room open for interpretation because everybody is different. But I absolutely agree that the notes section is super important, and helps a whole lot when it is utilized.
This. Very true. I am one of many who initially fell victim to the ideology that the CV knows all. I usually only use it now if I have absolutely no idea, just to get a general ID, if they look like they could be accurate. A lot of the time, it’s way off and I just do the best I can without it.
I think this is quite fair. I upload a lot, and the process is pretty systematic for me. I do not always say why, but I’ve found that if I leave a note explaining or giving additional information, or draw on them to indicate what I am referring to, only one of those is typically effective, and it’s the drawing one. I wish it was a widespread view that the notes should be used majority of the time, but I see a lot of people who probably just don’t know that it’s as important as it is. I definitely was in that camp initially, too.
I agree with this as well, but I feel like an actual explanation is usually only provided if somebody questions the ID given. I try to give an explanation or justification whenever I throw an ID out that is different from the initial/first one, or if there is none other than my own, but similar to uploading observations, it becomes systematic sometimes and I become one of those people who don’t give an explanation unless I am questioned.
I think it’s important to remember that everybody who uses this site/app are at different skill levels, and have different comprehensions and perspectives, so communication is super important, if not the most important thing. I’m trying to improve at my effectiveness when navigating on here, as I think everybody should. Sometimes we forget that there’s other people, many of which whom are probably interested in learning, on the other side of all these observations.
I am wondering why you don’t take one close up picture at the same time and include that in the observation? Is the terrain or private property lines keeping you from getting close?