Perhaps I don’t understand something (although based on the discussion in other topics and groups, I’m not the only one), but I don’t understand the “placeholder” function. The information in it is not available in the search, it is lost in later identifications (if I understand correctly). If an observer has some assumption about an object (but is unsure of their correctness), wouldn’t it be better to state it in the description? That way, at least the information won’t be accidentally lost, and such observations can be found by keywords, for example:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=tree&subview=table&iconic_taxa=unknown
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=mushroom&subview=table&iconic_taxa=unknown
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=mariposa&subview=table&iconic_taxa=unknown
I find it hard to see how the placeholder functionally complements the description. Does it give additional features (not otherwise available)?