In going through unknowns for ID, I sometimes come across bits of goo or fluff that look really interesting, but I can’t begin to know what they are. But I sometimes think there’s actually enough information in the photo that someone can give it at least a broad ID.
My only option, as far as I can tell - assuming I want to get it out of “unknown” or “life” - is to ID it as a slime mold or a fungus, and hope an expert won’t be irritated when I burden them with yet another unidentifiable photo.
So if a photo looks like it has some potential, and it’s been sitting around for 2+ years without any ID at all, would it be rude or useful to toss it to a place where it might not belong, but would allow it to get some attention?
I can’t help having the feeling that there are little treasures hidden in the unknowns, however naive that might be. 
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As yet another iNatter with a penchant to photograph slimes and other things I’m not knowing… I think moving them along so others see them helps.
Even when I know I don’t know what I’ve observed, I will not post it at unknown or life or that dreaded Something.
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It can sometimes be useful to add the really odd stuff to this project for the people who enjoy tackling mysteries: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/weirdwildwonders
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I think it’s helpful as long as your account is set up to receive notifications of disagreements, and you respond to them.
For example if you see a blob and tentatively put it in fungi without really knowing, then someone who knows fungi better comes along and says “no, this an insect egg case” or “no, this is a slime mold” please be willing to withdraw your ID of “fungi” so the kingdom disagreement doesn’t leave it stuck at “life” taking extra IDs to correct.
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Maybe you shouldn’t have sent me that project, now I’ll be spending time wondering what those blobs are when I should be doing identifications. 
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Roger that. I’m good about withdrawing IDs when needed (although I’m always afraid there might be some I’ve missed), so I’ll be sure to do that.
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I think it would be better to tentatively put in the slime molds. There are sooooo many fungi observations that it would easily be overlooked.
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Good point. It was only an example meant to illustrate the importance of following up on disagreements after making any tentative ID, but you’re right, probably better to put blobs in slime molds and let the slime experts boot any that aren’t over to something else.
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Thanks! I’ll use that guidance when I come across these…
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I also created a project https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/slime-molds-ea454c31-6fc9-46db-94e9-912a7fd456b3 for cases where it’s probably a fungi or a slime, but not clear which.
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Oh, that’s perfect, thank you!
It looks like with the non-available Amorphea (=Fungi ∪ Amoebozoa) we have yet another instance of the Endopterygota problem (which has two such projects because I created mine without knowing that the other already exists, and I had no time yet to move the contents over). Since inserting intermediate clades at a low level requires moving all observations contained therein (i.e. a lot of work) I don’t expext a real solution soon.
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