It’s easy to not make fun of people.
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I’m not making fun of you. You just kept insisting we were wrong and it was getting frustrating.
I’m not talking about myself, if those people are correct in other languages, it means their mistake isn’t that big to make fun of them, especially if you’re not an expert either. That’s my point through the whole thing.
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I wasn’t making fun of anyone. I was just trying to explain why the joke is supposed to be funny. It’s of course not funny if the joke doesn’t work in your language. As for making fun of people who don’t know enough to know that there are large and/or pretty lepidopterans that are not in Papilionoidea (and small plain brown or white ones within (Papilionoidea), personally I think it is in bad taste. I hope that the people who do think it is funny don’t laugh at people in person.
Edit: I didn’t see the memes as making fun of people. Just sharing relatable experiences. I don’t make fun of people, I educate them.
Ok, sorry I didn’t wrote everything before so it caused confusion, I meant initial meme is making it seem that people calling big bright moth a butterfly is something silly, while I’m sure none of them were taking classes of what Papilionoidea is and how to distinguish it, for some reason it evolved in language and taxonomical debate, while the point is it can turn someone new away from iNat if they think they’ll be made fun of.
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You’re probably right. I didn’t think of that. This forum is not a good place for this sort of meme. Wild Green Memes group on Facebook is a better place for this sort of thing.
You don’t need to know what Papilionoidea is to know what a butterfly is. Generally the common names do fit the taxonomic groups for Lepidoptera. (Unlike the common names of a lot of other plants and animals) And you can learn the common names from other people, books, or the internet. The green one is a Luna Moth. I learned about these in a book after I found one as a kid. The top one is an Atlas Moth, famous on the internet for being huge. The one on the left looks kind of like an Io Moth but the colors are wrong. I saw an adult io for the first time a couple weeks ago. I got stung by one of the caterpillars several years ago and researched what it was. I’ve seen photos of the one at the bottom but I can’t remember what it’s called.
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Now seems as good a time as any to point out that today is actually the official International Don’t-Take-Yourselves-Or Others-So-Seriously-Online-It’s-Not-Real-Life day.
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I can assure you that @fffffffff does not need any education about Lepidoptera. The meme may not translate into other languages, but on a forum like this it is a good thing to assume that the joke may not always be understood by people who live in different cultures on this planet. I include mine posted above in this as well, but I would not argue about it, or even try to ‘educate’ someone. Even my spouse does not understand things that I find funny.
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This try worked, now I see what you mean. :) Also thanks to the “translators” in the thread giving examples to provide context!
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I didn’t mean educate people on what memes mean. I meant educating people about plants and animals (and fungi) during educational nature walks or if they ask rather than making fun of them for not knowing what things are. I try not to be a “well actually…” type of person but it’s a hard habit to break. I want to absorb ALL the knowledge, but I have to remember that other people may not see it that way. I got caught up in the thread and tried to add my 2 cents in.
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insert photo of nettle felt moth here
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And so far not one reference to Silence of the Lambs.
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lol 
thank you for the reminder. i didn’t mean any insult, was just commenting on what to me is a funky contraction, but i can definitely see how it could come off as mocking—especially because they don’t know me and don’t know anything about my intentions or typical behavior! i’ll try to keep that in mind for the future :)
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Multiple species in the obs, please separate ;)
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Good question … During many viewings of Japanese monster movies as a kid, I was troubled by whether Mothra was a butterfly or moth. Actually, not really.
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Mothra hatched from an egg… obviously some kind of chicken. Maybe it’s time for some serious taxamonomical debate here?
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Or a platypus. All chickens are platypuses, but not all platypuses are chickens.
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