Sorry if this has been already asked, I tried searching and found some similar-ish questions that discussed with ‘when to agree’, but none that specifically answered what i was looking for.
If I agree with a broad-level id (for example genus), should I click the ‘Agree’ button even if I think there is enough information to get a finer identification (assuming I myself can’t ID to species). I might be unsure on how to split a particular identifying trait but be pretty confident someone with more expertise in the taxon could get it to finer-level.
There’s no direct harm in agreeing to an ID to genus if I do agree; I’m not adding an incorrect ID. But if my ‘Agree’ takes the observation to 3/3 consensus and moves it from ‘Needs ID’ to ‘Research Grade’ I fear I may have limited the visibility of this observation and (if not halted) slowed down the rate at which it will get IDed to species.
I know some experts go through Research Grade observations to narrow broader-level observations, but that can take time and I don’t want to rely on that much slower (and not strictly guaranteed) process of hoping an expert crawls through the backlog to find it if it could much sooner be narrowed down if I didn’t click the ‘Agree’ button and let them find it themselves.
Should I click ‘Agree’ in cases where I think an expert can ID finer?
Zero issues with clicking “Agree” and not explicitly disagreeing if you have the expertise to verify the genus (or other level). If the CID is not yet at the level of your ID, this is quite helpful.
The thing to be careful of is ticking “No, it’s as good as can be” to make something RG at Genus. If you are sure that something can’t be IDed to a finer level by an expert (need to see some trait not pictured, DNA is required, etc.), then you can tick that box. If you are
then you should definitely not tick the box. If you search for threads about “Good as can be” or similar, you will get a lot of thoughts from other forum users about its use.
Thanks for the reply cthawley :)
From what I can tell, that Data Quality Assesment question doesn’t have to be interacted with at all (Yes or No) to elevate an observation from ‘Needs ID’ to ‘Research Grade’. Simply having a consensus at genus level with 3 or more ‘Agree’ will elevate it without any interaction on that question.
So I still face the dilemma of wanting to “agree” and confirm the current level (obviously IDing further if I can) but not wanting to remove the post from the general ‘Needs ID’ pool with a larger audience of experts.
This shouldn’t be correct. If you find an observation like this you can post as a bug.
You’re right!
I’ve misunderstood the requirements for RG.
I wasn’t aware that observations weren’t listed as RG unless they were species level or lower (or that box was ticked)
Thank you for explaining that, and I apologise for not researching more beforehand. Your help was much appreciated.