I just learned, I’ve been using the Agree* button incorrectly sometimes. Using an iPhone or iPad, I did not see a Tooltip that defines what Agree means. I was sometimes just clicking Agree to be agreeable, to indicate I did not contest what the Identifier proposed. Is it possible to provide a ToolTip popup with the guidance that it should only be used if one is expert in IDing that species?
TLB
*From FAQ
When should I agree with someone else’s identification?
An identification confirms that you can confidently identify it yourself compared to any possible lookalikes. Please do not simply “Agree” with an ID that someone else has made without confirming that you understand how to identify that taxon. If you agree with the ID without actually knowing the taxon, it may reach Research Grade erroneously
I don’t think that’s necessarily a fair assumption - there are lots of features and site improvements the staff would like to make, but they’re a small team with limited resources.
yes, I have read a bit of requested features and improvements, some of which sound really complicated and technical. I have no idea of the back-log or capacity.
From the number of discussions on the topic of the misuse of the Agree button and the distortion of data it causes…
Well, I just would have thought it would have been dealt with if that data distortion mattered very much.
It seems to me that a Tooltip explaining Agree button use, or removing the button is a relatively easy fix to the interface to prevent such confusion. Most of us want do not want to skew the data through lack of understanding of the data form.
They could simply change the label to say Expert Agrees. That at least would give us ‘agreeable’ innocents pause over blindly hitting Agree to be polite.
If pop-ups aren’t feasible, maybe having two buttons instead of one agree button would work–“Yes, I can confirm this” and “I’m not sure.” I admit I didn’t go back through all the forum topics to see if that was ever suggested by anyone.
This isn’t really reflective of what the agree button represents either. I’m not an African mammal expert, but I could correctly hit agree on most African megafauna mammal observations if I wanted to because I recognise what they look like.
@thebeachcomber Well, I was going by this FAQ statement, which to me implies a level of expertise, beyond knowing … say, oh, what a giraffe looks like. To me, it says I should have the knowledge to differentiate between the different types of giraffes (eg., a giraffe species index may include 4 species, 5 subspecies, and 2 ecotypes).
From FAQ
When should I agree with someone else’s identification?
An identification confirms that you can confidently identify it yourself compared to any possible lookalikes. Please do not simply “Agree” with an ID that someone else has made without confirming that you understand how to identify that taxon. If you agree with the ID without actually knowing the taxon, it may reach Research Grade erroneously
So, I think Expert Agrees is reflective of the spirit of this policy. That said, I imagine other synonyms could be useful, instead of Expert.
Still, the main point is make the User Interface clear to those of us with a lesser level of expertise that we should not click that Agree button just to be agreeable or thank the person who provided the ID.
Like any group with limited resources, it’s more a matter of prioritization. Personally I vote for removing the Agree button from the site and apps aside from the Identify page, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere.
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