I have always assumed that it was very clear that users ‘owned’ their own observations, but this doesn’t seem to be explicitly stated anywhere - perhaps I assume too much. This is of course for observations, and users which don’t breach the site’s terms and conditions etc. @Kueda has previously …

[image] tony_wills: So what do others think? Should we have a declared iNat etiquette of respecting an observer’s observation subject choice, however much we are more interested in some other aspect of the observation? It’s tricky, isn’t it. I believe wholeheartedly that as things currently s…

Since iNat frames itself as a social network , it always seemed clear to me that my observations, photos, IDs, comments, journal posts, etc. are “mine”. The community ID is not “mine”, but I can choose to opt out of it I want to. [image] crellow: allow curators to split up or duplicate observati…

[image] bouteloua: I have IDed a different subject in the photo when it was a duplicate observation, such as two observations using the same photo of a butterfly on a flower, where each was IDed as the butterfly, and I interjected with an ID of the flower. I only would do this if the user was un…

Not an issue with collection projects, and traditional project curators do have tools to find unsuitable observations ( option1 / option 2 ). But yeah, if there were some butterfly related tags / description / observation fields / annotations I would probably be less likely to “re-ID” and more likely…

This discussion did remind me of a observation i did dublicate lately … a branch with flowers and plant galls on the leaves. I now updated the plant galls observation with a cropped image, to make clear what this observation is about. flowering branch https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2216…

[image] bouteloua: Example: This account not maintained by the user who took the photos, to which many hundreds of duplicate observations have been uploaded and went unfixed for years: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5664650 Here is a similar example, where it is clear to me that th…

As I started reading this topic, I had a feeling it was this observation! I totally agree with the whole ownership thing, and if it were just the description, I would put the grass. Jon’s class was undertaking bird counts, and I did find it confusing in that the class (or maybe it was a different …

This is kind of a “duress observer” situation which is mitigated somewhat with a mentor (the lecturer). It is also further complicated with a language barrier in that many of the students (and @jon_sullivan should correct me if my assumption is wrong) are not English as a first language.

and one last point, there is no dishonouring of the observers intent here. I am not an absentee identifier, and if the observer clarifies the subject I can change my ID position accordingly!

[image] tony_wills: And if the simple rule of thumb is ‘honour the observer’s subject choice’ there would be no confusion. I think it would be a reasonable addition to the Identification Etiquette wiki.

Respecting ownership of observations

General

Topic		Replies	Views
Observers Mocking Identifiers? General	52	4071	September 6, 2023
Possible Solutions to common State of Matter Life issues? General	52	3625	September 28, 2019
Making observations of things in other user's photos General	35	650	December 11, 2024
Thoughts on Responding to Less Experienced Observers General	34	3934	June 8, 2019
Identifiers as Volunteer Curators, and Obs with Probs General	102	4994	September 25, 2023

Respecting ownership of observations

Related topics