I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to develop a fan base for a particular group and teach them what characters to look for–in fact, it’s the teaching that often results in the formation of a fan base. I’ve been on both the teaching and the learning side, and from both perspectives I can’t overstate the value of sharing one’s expertise with others. If the desired goal is to get most every observation correctly identified to research grade for a group that your passionate about, then providing resources to make it easier for serious amateurs to identify things is really the only way to reach that goal. The number of professional biologists will never be able to keep up with the growing public interest in documenting biodiversity–sharing ones knowledge is the only viable option, IMO.