You were responding to me though. I got off topic on the thread https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-same-individual-keeps-posting-cv-suggested-misidentifications-on-others-observations-what-do-i-do/54450/18
I was suggesting that some recognized experts ID’s should count more for research grade status, which derailed that thread enough that this was split off. Then it somehow got off track again to the placeholder topic. So I derailed the train of thought, which was hit with another derailment, so double train wreck. Do I get a trophy?
To contribute to the placeholder topic though, I just made a fake obs to test (stopped the upload, will delete in a minute). Using the android app, there isn’t any indication that my id is a placeholder and temporary. I think the problem scenario here is someone using the inat app directly to take pictures and make an obs in the field, with the intent of reviewing it later, but sometimes their obs is identified and their temporary id is lost before they are ready. In this case, I think an option to save their obs, but not upload it to the public, would solve this. My test obs started uploading as soon as I finalized it. I could stop it, but I think it might be better to just have a pop up asking to either save and upload, or save and not upload.
The other scenario I’ve seen mentioned is someone not realizing that their id is a placeholder. Before reading this, I didn’t even know placeholder was a thing. Even knowing now, I still don’t know what triggers an id to become placeholder. I only use the android app, and I don’t see any indicators or options to mark it myself. Does the icon being gray indicates it will be placeholder?
In this case, I think I saw someone else mention this simple solution, couldn’t the app just automatically add a line to the notes “original placeholder id xxx”. It seems pretty simple, and would stay visible unless the creator decides to delete it.
Edit: I just went back to delete my fake obs, and apparently it uploaded itself. So even hitting “stop” while it’s uploading won’t keep the obs to yourself.