On a different note, I have some other issues/warnings regarding inactivating taxa:
- When inactivating taxa with no observations, make sure to check here for casual observations and IDs that don’t show up on the taxon home page (replace
taxon_ID=with the taxon number in question):
https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?taxon_id=324543 - Otherwise, inactivating taxa leaves observations in limbo. I don’t think this should really ever be done if there are observations/IDs and another ID won’t suffice (sometimes you can inactivate a name like “Plant” and add the proper ID, which overrides the inactive one).
- In the case of extinct taxa, I still think we should try to graft taxa so long as they are in line with curator guidelines. I would say all of the extinct vertebrates do not follow these guidelines, in which case they could be inactivated, but I think that another ID should be added (i.e. Vertebrata) so the observations aren’t left in limbo.
- Is having ungrafted taxa with observations or observations with inactivated taxa worse? I think the latter, but I’m open to other suggestions.
Here are all the “species” of observations without IDs (from this thread):
- Some are ungrafted taxa in locked groups that regular curators can’t fix.
- Some are bugs and I’m not sure why they show up, but inactivating and deactivating them fixes the problem.
- Some are taxa that have been inactivated, mostly because they’re extinct.
- I don’t think anything should be there, but I want to hear what other curators think.