I just have a question about how flagged IDs work. This observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/18823142 is in State of Matter Life due to flagged IDs. The flags are 8 months old. If these IDs are considered jokes instead of real attempts to ID the organism, why are they allowed to infl…

Related topic (though none of these particular IDs are by suspended users): https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/nullify-flagged-ids-by-suspended-users/496

Yes, I saw that post first, but thought asking my question there would be off-topic since it was about suspended users and these users are not suspended. Just seems to me that as long as the flags are in place the community ID should be calculated differently. Then if the flags are resolved in the i…

I don’t think flagging alone should nullify an ID. But I’m not sure what better system than what we have (community ID) to put in place for one-off joke IDs other than more robust moderation, which iNat lacks.

I guess I just don’t see the usefulness of leaving the flags on for so long. Are they just supposed to warn the rest of us that the IDs should be viewed with suspicion?

I usually resolve them once the community ID has been “fixed”.

Wow, thanks everyone for getting that observation to Plantae, after so long in State of Matter Life! Maybe we should run all State of Matter Life obs through the forum (just kidding, really!).

That comment thread with IDs Has my head spinning Ouch !!!

Paloma keep in mind once flagged curators currently only have 2 options, leave the flag in place or resolve it which means it is no longer considered appropriate or necessary to be flagged. There is no means to edit, delete or otherwise change an ID done by another user.

Thanks for explaining. I had thought that if joke IDs were flagged the person making the IDs would be suspended unless they fixed or deleted the IDs, and then their IDs would disappear.

If they persist in doing it, especially after being warned/asked to stop, they may be suspended, but it is typically only done then, or in cases where they are being offensive. Even then, when a user is suspended, their ID’s remain.

Question re how flagged IDs work

General

Topic		Replies	Views
Nullify flagged IDs by suspended users Feature Requests	12	1306	November 19, 2019
Resolving flags for intentionally incorrect IDs Curators	3	438	October 19, 2023
Joke IDers--should they be flagged--how? General	1	943	June 16, 2019
Flag Erroneous Identifications Feature Requests	27	1825	August 12, 2020
How do you handle joke IDs when you're identifying observations? General	26	840	October 8, 2025

Question re how flagged IDs work

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