Introduction: As we naturalists all experience first hand everyday, our planet has an immense biodiversity. With the more conservative estimates starting at roughly 3 million species and that number going up to >100 million according to other sources¹ (Tangley, 1998), it becomes necessary to someho…

Currently the closest we have is that there’s a update in your dashboard when a taxon you’ve observed is changed. But there isn’t a notification and I don’t think that update shows until after the change is made. If it’s drafted and left sitting like you described (which does happen sometimes) you s…

I don’t necessarily have dashboard updates and drafts in mind, but rather a whole separate system. Say a curator were to submit a taxon change. Now, instead of going through with it immediately, the system creates a flag-like menu (but it’s own separate thing) on the taxon page that, like a flag, i…

[image] upupa-epops: [image] rupertclayton: I do think taxon changes could include more checks and balances or require more approval (at least where we might expect them to be disruptive). I vaguely recall a feature request or discussion about implementing something like this, but I can’t…

Honestly, i don’t think this is something only curators should ‘vote’ on. I recognize some non-curators aren’t experts but these decisions affect a lot of people and again, the selection of who is or isn’t a curator is kind of random and sometimes problematic

I agree, but I still think there needs to be some „trust“ established, so that no one can just create a new account and vote on something that potentially disruptive.

It doesn’t even have to be your ID or observation with the current system. https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/view-affected-content-after-taxon-change/29776

[image] nomolosx: the number of undescribed taxa is staggering [image] charlie: yes, i don’t have an issue with adding new species that aren’t splits, because they don’t disrupt everything else. Articles about biodiversity loss make it sound like these two statements are the same. We a…

It’s not an either/or. We’re experiencing both a redefinition of species at home, and a continuation of interest and effort in under-explored taxa and regions abroad. There are plenty of very distinctive insect species undescribed, and probably a fair amount of distinctive amphibians even, just beca…

Would it help to make all curator actions reversible? I believe sometimes information regarding what ID used to be there is lost, so what if it wasn’t? What if the system kept that sort of information in a way that would make any taxon change reversible?

Taxonomy, Cladistics, and iNaturalist

Nature Talk

upupa-epops October 17, 2024, 7:02pm 54

That feature request lists some options, with the default being the same as who gets dashboard alerts for taxon changes which I believe is everyone with an observation of the taxon. This is just about who gets a notification (awareness to be able to comment) not voting, creating a voting system would be another complicated question.

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Should curators have a critical point of view when changing iNat taxonomy? Curators	144	6335	February 7, 2024
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Should taxonomic changes on very important, high profile taxa be discussed more broadly than flags? General	124	3292	January 6, 2025
"Trying to define the undefinable": is iNat too focused on species? General article	84	3342	August 31, 2023
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Taxonomy, Cladistics, and iNaturalist

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