i have this nice situation where i dont want to be misunderstood, and common names can be confusing and mean different things to different people, so i use scientific names, and people dont know what im talking about 
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That’s very true
and some people Ignore us as we keep telling scientific names
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I only really use scientific names when it comes to animals I know well (which is mostly snakes). I often default to Crotalis Horridus instead of saying Canebrake rattler or Timber rattler because of their varying habitat across the eastern US.
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Welcome Aaron!
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This is a great topic for discussion. Whether one uses a scientific name or a common name should depend on what one knows personally and who one is talking with. Always keep your audience in mind. I have always been fond of plants, but I never took a horticulture degree. Yet, I’ve found that I still enjoy communicating with professional botanists and gardeners especially when the plant we are talking about is pictured or present so we can know we mean the same plant. Hooray for visual learning! I rely on common names a lot, but I do remember scientific names I use more frequently.
However, I’m glad that iNat uses both forms of nomenclature for yet another reason. I have very mild dyslexia and sometimes find the Latin or Greek spellings harder to remember especially if the words have vowel combinations unknown to English. Aleoides took me quite a while to get right. Three vowels in a row–eoi that just looks painful.
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It has been mentioned that you can change your iNaturalist settings to come up first in either scientific names or English names (or names in your language). I would like to adjust how those names come up differently for different taxon groups. Like many other naturalists, I primarily learn my birds, mammals, butterflies, and herps, in English, and the rest I primarily learn by scientific name.
Until I learn otherwise, I only know how to have my settings on iNaturalist put English names first, or Scientific names first, for all taxon groups. I would like to have everything come up first in scientific names EXCEPT for birds, mammals, butterflies, and herps, at least for those in North America, which I have learned better for them than the scientific names. Those who study these 4 groups, at least in North America, also tend to learn and use their English names. Is there a way that I haven’t learned yet, to adjust the settings in this way, or might it be a feature we should request?
Regarding whether to use English names, or scientific names:
I’ve long worked to communicate effectively with a wide audience of both average people, and scientists, and I frequently offer both scientific and English names. That said, for birds, mammals, and herps, I generally just give English names. With butterflies, I mostly give English names, but occasionally use scientific names, especially for just genera, if I think the audience might recognize it, and prefer it.
In general, to decide which name to offer first, I will start by estimating if the people I am communicating with are more likely to recognize the English, or Scientific name. If it is on iNaturalist, I might check how many observations, or identifications, they have made. I give extra points for identifications, because I estimate that it suggests more confidence in identifying that group. I occasionally check to see if they have a specialty, in their observations, identifications, or bio. If my estimate is that they aren’t especially likely to recognize the scientific names, I will usually offer the English name first, sometimes, but not always, followed by the scientific name, especially if I want to teach the scientific name, or think it has additional use, such as including a memorable distinguishing feature, that I might then explain the meaning of. Whether I use both may also depend on how much time I want to spend on it then.
Interestingly, in botany, which is my forte, when speaking, or writing, I tend to remember the scientific name first, which I might to offer first, just because I remember it first, but often recognize the written, or spoken English names better than the scientific names, especially if I don’t already know what subgroup of taxa is being talked about. That said, in botany, and mycology, if I am only getting one of the two, I generally prefer hearing, or reading, the scientific name, and will more often be confused by the English.
In birds, while I know what an Empidonax flycatcher is, I usually can’t remember what people are talking about in casual iNaturalist discussion, when they refer to “empids”, especially if I don’t already know that they are talking about birds. Also, I rarely would quickly figure out what an “AMRO” (American Robin) is, so I prefer people never use these 4 letter codes on iNaturalist, or any other forum I might use. I would argue that four letter codes are only good for your personal field notes.
Last, I don’t use “common names”, because most aren’t in very common use (many less than others). I prefer to use “English” names, as being more accurate.
I always use common names when talking to people, unless I want to impress them with my recently acquired knowledge of scientific names. Thanks to my overuse of iNaturalist, I’ve accidentally picked up quite a few, most of which are species I often observe like Turdus migratorius, Junco hyemalis, Colaptes auratus and Dactylis glomerata. I am also blessed with an ability to remember spellings of complex words, which serves me well in online conversations.
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that one is easy to remember because it’s funny 
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That’s because many of the English names appear to have been made up just so that the taxon would have one, and the ones iNaturalist uses do not match the ones the field guide uses.
Thanks for this. Had not looked into that menu.
If it’s a taxa I really like (i.e. arthropods) (or just one that has a lot of wildly different common names), I tend to remember and use scientific names more often. If its something I’m totally unfamiliar with (plants, vertebrates), I’ll use a common name.
In vernacular, this ends up with a totally nonsensical jumble of common and proper names just picked on which one I know or feels better, but if I’m writing something down I tend to format references as Common Name (scientific name).
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