The DQA “Based on the evidence, can the Community Taxon still be confirmed or improved?” / “No, it’s as good as it can be” is able to push an observation to limbo when it should not. This DQA should be disabled in some cases. An observation of a Viola (Plantae) got these IDs and is now “Casual”, id…

Many people don’t understand the point of the checkbox “It’s as good as it can be”, and based on this misunderstanding they will often check this box when they do not intend to say that the Community ID cannot be improved and the observation should go to RG (if CID below family level) or to Casual (…

[image] rupertclayton: Jean Philippe’s Viola vs Viola Skipper example, where at least one identifier misunderstood the subject of the observation. That isn’t misunderstanding the subject. The identifier clearly intended to identify it as a plant (les papillons n’ont pas de fleurs), but typed …

[image] phma: The identifier clearly intended to identify it as a plant (les papillons n’ont pas de fleurs), but typed “Viola” and picked the butterfly by mistake. I may have made a wrong assumption from the image that was shared, but the DQA would seem inappropriate in either scenario (when …

[image] rupertclayton: I may have made a wrong assumption from the image that was shared, but the DQA would seem inappropriate in either scenario (when the observer mistypes the taxon name; or when an identifier misunderstands the intended focus). Neither of these scenarios seem to apply here…

[image] larry216: Neither of these scenarios seem to apply here. […] If neither of these identifiers can be persuaded to withdraw their IDs, we now need four more identifiers to select the plant genus to make that the CID. At that point, if the DQA box is still checked, it would make that genus…

[image] larry216: Alternately, one vote against the DQA would remove it from the Casual rank, immediately. but. Identifiers have to remember to check if the problem lies with a (wrong) DQA. Meanwhile the obs languishes in limbo. It the observer was a newbie they abandon iNat in disgust - I tr…

The feature request (from 2019!) might be valuable. But still… The problem in this case is not the DQA, but the second and third identifiers misclicking on a taxon name that is duplicated across kingdoms. The best solution for this by another identifier would be to post a comment addressed to tho…

Actually I think they’re both problems. The DQA should never have been clicked on something that was completely identifiable (I gather), and the reason for it having such a high-level ID is irrelevant. My first reaction to the initial suggestion was ‘but what about all those utterly unidentifiable p…

In this Viola example - I would like iNat to SHOW us the word Lepidoptera. It is not useful to display an unfamiliar (or it would not have been clicked) Genus as an unattached orphan. iNat does not present this as flower or butterfly, it is just - oh, hello Viola!

Use of “It’s as good as it can be” in the DQA

General

jeanphilippeb January 29, 2025, 7:04am 10

See also this feature request (it would help, but the issue could still happen):

Say what the Community Taxon is in the DQA

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Use of “It’s as good as it can be” in the DQA

Say what the Community Taxon is in the DQA

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