Lately when I change an observation ID, two questions appear asking what the basis of the change is. However, I usually change an ID because I trust the judgement of the person who disagrees with my ID. (I look up their qualifications first.) This option should be added to the questions about why I made the change.
Does it look like this?
I think this should only appear if you are potentially disagreeing with the Community ID. If it is something else, a screenshot would be helpful.
Also, you should only Agree if you can independently verify the ID. If you trust someone else’s ID more and yours disagrees with it, the best course of action is to withdraw your ID, e,g. if you put Bohemian Waxwing and someone you trust more puts Cedar Waxwing. If there is no disagreement, e.g. you put Waxwing, and another IDer added Cedar Waxwing, you can just leave your correct, but less precise ID.
This is how you can withdraw (this is not a situation where I would withdraw, it just shows you how to do it).
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Also, you should only Agree if you can independently verify the ID.
I had another question regarding this, so I hope you all can forgive me for digressing a bit;
Sometimes I’ve changed my ID after someone disagreed with me — but only when that pushed me to further look into the differences between species. After doing the research, I felt confident enough to agree (and learned something for the future).
Still, I sometimes worry it looks like I’m just following someone else’s ID. So I’d love to hear what others think:
Is it okay to change your ID in response to disagreement, if it leads you to a better understanding and genuine confidence in the new ID?
Yes, that is just how it should work. If you want to show you are not just blindly following someone else’s id., there is a box under the species name where you can summarise your change in thinking. That summary can also be useful for others.
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The question is badly worded (and there’s a thread about it, so direct further comments there). It should say “Is the evidence provided enough to deny this is Cedar Waxwing?”, and the second button should say “Yes, but it is a member of Birds”.
I sometimes identify a caterpillar as Geometridae, but add a comment that it might be a noctuid (both families have caterpillars with less prolegs than most leps), and if someone later identifies it as Noctuidae, I agree, having already commented that. In other cases, I may back off my ID to a higher-level taxon.
I don’t see anything wrong with changing your ID. However, if the observer changes his ID by agreeing with another’s ID, I wonder if he misunderstands the agree button. I’m perfectly happy if I identify something as bird or frog and two other people identify it to species.
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Yes, this is absolutely ok and how iNat should work (though of course sometimes, users won’t be able to expand their expertise enough to agree with an ID - which is absolutely fine!).
I also agree with @whitneybrook that agreeing with
shouldn’t be done, regardless of whether a user looks up another user’s qualifications. IDs on iNat should be based on the IDer’s own expertise, not their perception of another user’s expertise.
Instead of agreeing to an ID from another user who disagrees solely based on the disagree-er’s perceived expertise, better options are to withdraw an ID or back it off to a higher taxonomic level such as one that includes the initial ID and the diagree-er’s ID.
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if you do that? Remember to follow your notifications. Taxon specialists can and do, come back, on second thoughts and change their ID. Then your ID becomes a problem needing 3 against. Also taxonomy changes …
If you withdraw your ID, you can still follow your notifications and see where the CID eventually lands (and why - if identifiers discuss a difficult ID)
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If a person who is more knowledgeable than me, disagrees with my initial identification, I am willing to withdraw my identification but not agree and leave it to others to agree or disagree.
Having said that, I will take a closer look at both species suggested to determine if I can make the identification on my own. I am going through this process with learning the difference between Anas superciliosa (Pacific Black Duck) and its hybrid Anas superciliosa x platyrhynchos. I’m still not confident with the difference, so I do not agree, even though the person identifying them is likely to be correct as it is their area of research.
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