Thank you all for the discussion, and supplementary topics I think of this site can also add a feature that does not allow anyone to follow, I hope to keep a low profile, of course, everyone can continue to view my observations.
I could be wrong here, but isn’t the only page that you can see if you have followers the profile page, which is also the page you would be using the least?
It is nice to have followers, just to know that there are people who appreciate your findings, or perhaps photos, some even giving comments or hints. But what to do with a follower who does uncritically ID your posted observation a soon as it is online, may your ID be right or wrong, thus preventing others to look at the observations because they already marked “research grade”? If an expert then critically IDs it, finding that the ID is not correct and giving the right one, it could prove difficult to correct a wrong ID, if the one follower ist not withdrawing his/her ID. Hence being able to remove this follower, not blocking, would be a very useful option.
Follower or not, you need to report them to the iNat help email.
Whether they’re following you or not won’t do anything. They can always continue to ID whether they follow you or not. I don’t see what removing followers accomplishes.
I know that on flatforms like Twitter you can block people from seeing or commenting on your posts. I can understand the reasoning behind this feature. However, I just don’t understand why some are so adamant about removing followers. Unlike Twitter for instance, iNaturalist isn’t a place about drama. It’s a place about community and sharing in the common interest of the natural world. I don’t think this needs to be implemented in iNaturalist. Just because you don’t like people following you isn’t good enough for me. As a wildlife photographer I like to follow people who post pictures I really like. I like to stay updated on what they post. I don’t think you need to send a request to follow people or need to remove followers willy nilly. This isn’t Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. This is iNaturalist. I just don’t think this fits for iNaturalist.
I agree.
I’d first write a polite PN to the follower. Maybe they just want to be helpful and are not aware of the data quality issues
It’s ok. I actually didn’t understand why people follow each other !
In regards to
I think that one scientifically related function is following users who may frequently post incorrect/problematic observations to check on them or ID observations that may be posted with incorrect initial IDs. So I’d potentially be concerned that removing followers a la carte (like blocking users) could be used as a way to avoid IDs from the community. As such, I’m not in favor of an option that allows users to individually decide who can follow them and who cannot.
That said, I might be in favor of a
Thumbs up from my side: that could be a simple option in the user settings, and I’d be sympathetic to anyone who prefers to keep a low profile on iNat, including the assurance that no one gets automatic updates about their own activity.
I follow people for several reasons but they mostly boil down to different versions of one overarching theme; the people I follow post about something I’m interested in learning about. That may be biodiversity of a place, a taxon I want to know better or idle curiosity about some odd critter or shrub I came across.
Learning about nature is what iNat is about and the social aspect of it is a major strength contributing to that objective. I would advise a very conservative approach to adopting features that limit the ability of community members to learn from other contributors. Online safety matters but it needs to be considered in the context of iNat’s raison d’être.
I am surprised so many people have issues with creepy people/stalkers/harassers on this site.
As far as following I follow people I know from work, or friends/family on the site, and people who post a lot of Lepidoptera from CT, or a lot of Catocala. This never has any intent other than I want to help them with ID’s or see the cool things they find. If someone uses a pseudonym and has a unremarkable avatar I am amazed that anyone would escalate with a user to creepy behavior. Of course if someone messaged me and asked me to not follow them I would do it, but most people never even look at their follower list or care. I would like to know the reason for someone not wanting me to follow them, because it’s slightly insulting if you haven’t done anything besides maybe ID their things every once in a while!
People can come to iNat with a history of being stalked or harassed, and are trying to keep iNat a safe space for themselves.
Just because we, haven’t been affected, doesn’t make it a non-issue.
If an individual wants to be Not Followed, it could be an option like rejecting Community ID.
PS your impression of so many is because that is the topic of this thread.
@BlueDragonSlug I agree.
iNat is the only “social media” I have. I don’t even notice when I get a follower. A few of them are people I know, everyone I follow are people I know. The followers I don’t know offline are people I either know nothing about or have talked with a couple times on iNat. I hope that some of my followers are getting data from my posts. Maybe I’m posting something they are studying, or they are learning to ID something new.
I’d say if you don’t want a follower, PM them and tell them why you prefer them not to follow you. Or put it in your profile “please don’t follow me” so when people go to your profile to follow you, they see it and know you don’t want to be followed.
It was a deliberate design choice to not emphasize followers/following on iNat. So you’re not notified when someone follows you, and the number of followers you have is displayed as a small number on your profile. It’s a number I personally almost never look at, both on my profile and on other users’ profiles.
I’d be OK with adding this functionality, but it would need to be thought through a bit. @john, how would you see this working. Let’s say, for example, I wanted to follow you. How do you see that process going?
I think that would work about as well as the blanket opt-out of community ID that we’ve had threads about. People would do it as often, and for the same reasons.
Oops, looks like someone beat me to saying it:
I know where to find the number, I just never look at it and I think when I had 5 followers I was surprised when I realized it. I went and looked at it due to this thread, but will probably forget about it again until the next time someone mentions it. I’m with you on not noticing it on others profiles either. I’m more focused on how many observations someone has rather than followers.
The issue with followers, stalkers, etc., seems to be an issue on many threads lately. I almost feel guilty now for wanting to follow anyone on iNaturalist.
Agreed, actually, after reading that tread, I am wondering if saying you like a post will be seen as stalking……weird