I just meant photographic quality in this context…( the top observers at present are not active in taxa or geographies I’m particularly familiar with ).
It’s certainly visible in a few of the top observers that (rightly or wrongly) they are sort of gaming the system by making multiple observations of the same species in close proximity as you mentioned. But there is at least one high observer at present ( @reiner) who seems to have high quality photography, and doesn’t seem to be doing this. I have also seen @alexis_orion on the leaderboard previously, a user who has consistently high quality obs of mesofauna. ( hope you folks don’t mind me tagging you in! - I’m curious to know about how you optimise your workflows if you are open to sharing )
I do think the gamification aspect of having a leaderboard within iNat should promote quality over quantity though, as I’ve said. I have attempted the 1000 species in 1 sq km challenge for two years running in different locations - the great thing about this objective is that it forces you to step outside of taxa you are familiar with and to increase quality and detail in observations in order to attain it. I believe there is potential benefit both as a naturalist and a recorder to push yourself to attain a goal like this. But I accept that’s not for everyone and of course there are many other ways to develop your skills as a naturalist too :)