In the last week, a few of my observations have been the target of bot attacks. All at once, dozens of newly created accounts add incorrect identifications, effectively changing the community taxon. Sometimes, they leave comments and faves too. Has anyone had this experience or am I the only one? W…

[image] That_Bug_Guy: Has anyone had this experience I haven’t personally had it happen (yet), but I’ve seen it happen to some others recently. [image] That_Bug_Guy: What should I do? Flag the IDs, and a curator can help. We can’t do anything to remove DQA stuff or faves, but we can h…

I don’t think they’re real people. All the accounts are created on the same day and then all target my observations specifically. I checked their IDs through their accounts; only my observations are chosen. I’m beginning to fear I upset someone on iNaturalist and this is their revenge.

[image] That_Bug_Guy: I’m beginning to fear I upset someone on iNaturalist and this is their revenge. The similar instances I’ve seen have generally been the result of someone with too much time on their hands who got mad about an ID correction or a copyright flag, so this does seem likely un…

[image] That_Bug_Guy: I checked their IDs through their accounts; only my observations are chosen. I’m beginning to fear I upset someone on iNaturalist and this is their revenge. How strange. Definitely flag the IDs for curator assistance. I’m happy to help with investigation and hiding. If …

[image] That_Bug_Guy: Sometimes, they leave comments and faves too. Just out curiosity, are the comments strange or out of the ordinary?

I’m paraphrasing, but it was stuff like “it’s this” and “C’mon guys, stop making false IDs”.

i saw one of your observations that had flagged malicious IDs, and the usernames seem to be lyrics from a song, so i dont think these are bots, i think someone is targeting you

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/248465909 im not sure if im allowed to say the usernames, but together it gave me the impression of song lyrics, so i searched the words in one of the usernames, and it looks like it is havana by camila cabello

Amazing. I’m so sorry you are having to deal with this, @That_Bug_Guy !

I have seen the comments and IDs, they’re definitely not bots, just someone targeting your posts (as well as some other users’) with inappropriate content. We can simply report them until they lose interest.

Recent Bot Attacks

General

That_Bug_Guy November 15, 2024, 6:32pm 21

Oh wow, that one’s even copying my name

Topic		Replies	Views
New issue of comments on iNat journal posts by what look like bots? General	11	1043	January 17, 2023
(Possibly) intentionally wrong IDs General	10	1418	June 24, 2025
Flag Erroneous Identifications Feature Requests	28	1762	August 12, 2020
Childish and slightly aggressive behaviour from users General	67	2091	October 24, 2024
What to do with users who consistently misidentify? General	25	3313	January 12, 2020

Recent Bot Attacks

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