# Users misunderstanding tagging **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [December 10, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550 "2025-12-10T13:51:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ciafre](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/ciafre/32/34691_2.png) [@ciafre](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ciafre)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/1 "2025-12-10T13:51:54Z")
I realized today that some users have attempted to get my attention on observations by adding my username as a tag on their observation rather than @-mentioning me in a comment. I’m almost 100% sure the confusion comes from the fact that people (including me) sometimes use “tag” to mean “@-mention,” as in “tag me in a comment if you split this observation.” I don’t think any changes are needed since this seems to be a pretty uncommon issue from what I can tell. Instead, this is just a friendly reminder for frequent identifiers to check for observations where their usernames have been added as tags! Here’s a url to check- just replace my username (ciafre) with yours: [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?q=ciafre&search\_on=tags](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?q=ciafre&search_on=tags) ---
**Author:** ![janetwright](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/janetwright/32/519_2.png) [@janetwright](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/janetwright)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/2 "2025-12-10T14:42:24Z")
I read this and thought “oh nobody would do that,” but then tried it and found 9 observations tagged with my name! Thanks for the tip, @ciafre. ---
**Author:** ![yayemaster](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/yayemaster/32/12153_2.png) [@yayemaster](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/yayemaster)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/3 "2025-12-10T14:47:22Z")
Wait that’s so weird! I never knew you could do this(and frankly, I don’t know how someone would have found this). ---
**Author:** ![spiderladylyle](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/spiderladylyle/32/64036_2.png) [@spiderladylyle](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/spiderladylyle)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/4 "2025-12-10T14:47:42Z")
I’m glad you posted this! I found a slew of tags! ---
**Author:** ![ciafre](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/ciafre/32/34691_2.png) [@ciafre](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ciafre)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/5 "2025-12-10T15:02:34Z")
The only reason I found it because a friend recently tagged (@-mentioned) me on an observation where a user clearly tried to @-mention me in the comments two years ago but didn’t add an @-sign, and I just happened to notice that they _also_ added a tag to the observation with my username. Given that I only had two observations tagged with my username, I can’t believe I ever noticed! ---
**Author:** ![martyndrabik](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/martyndrabik/32/53629_2.png) [@martyndrabik](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/martyndrabik)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/6 "2025-12-10T17:04:54Z")
Wow, thanks. I found a small number of tags for me, too. ---
**Author:** ![yayemaster](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/yayemaster/32/12153_2.png) [@yayemaster](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/yayemaster)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/7 "2025-12-10T18:50:59Z")
That’s odd for sure. I had 4, and they were all taxa I have no clue how to identify. ---
**Author:** ![Shauns](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/shauns/32/32076_2.png) [@Shauns](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Shauns)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/8 "2025-12-10T18:57:14Z")
Thanks. Never searched for myself, and got a few hits as well. ---
**Author:** ![pfau\_tarleton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/pfau_tarleton/32/346_2.png) [@pfau\_tarleton](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pfau_tarleton)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/9 "2025-12-10T19:17:07Z")
I had 16! If there’s a way for someone to use something incorrectly, there will be some that find a way to do it. But honestly, there’s not much information about what tags are supposed to be used for: [https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000169941-what-are-tags-observation-fields-and-annotations-](https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000169941-what-are-tags-observation-fields-and-annotations-) A popup window would be a helpful addition. Like this: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/9/a/9abf1b273e3debdc8c0d4c3cb8fd7a4493d45482.png) ---
**Author:** ![gcwarbler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/gcwarbler/32/1787_2.png) [@gcwarbler](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/gcwarbler)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/10 "2025-12-10T22:00:08Z")
I’d never realized this was an available use of the “Tags” variable. I just viewed that as “keywords”. I found 21 observations which had included me (gcwarbler) as an actual “Tag”. I’ve DM-ed a couple of folks who were doing that repeatedly and coaxed them to use @-mentions instead. ---
**Author:** ![ciafre](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/ciafre/32/34691_2.png) [@ciafre](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ciafre)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/11 "2025-12-10T22:37:23Z")
I like the idea of adding a tooltip clarifying what tags are for. It would be helpful if we could get notifications whenever someone adds our username as a tag so we wouldn’t have to check periodically, but that could cause some problems for users whose usernames could conceivably be used as un-related tags (e.g. those who use a genus, noun, or place as their username)- and would probably be a pain to code. ---
**Author:** ![d2b](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/d2b/32/5005_2.png) [@d2b](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/d2b)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/12 "2025-12-11T00:08:44Z")
Wow, 22. Thanks, @ciafre. It would never have occurred to me to look for this. Clearly some further explanatory feature is needed to divert users away from this. ---
**Author:** ![tracc](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tracc/32/5330_2.png) [@tracc](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tracc)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 6:07am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/13 "2025-12-11T06:07:34Z")
That’s so funny. We have 71! Mostly because of the use of the Italian “tracce” , but a whole set where someone was trying to get help with their coral IDs. ---
**Author:** ![thebeachcomber](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/thebeachcomber/32/12748_2.png) [@thebeachcomber](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/thebeachcomber)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 6:15am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/14 "2025-12-11T06:15:26Z")
39 for me dating back to 2020…makes me feel bad for missing them ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 10:16am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/15 "2025-12-11T10:16:00Z")
@kestrel maybe a prompt to work in to the upcoming ID-a-thon ? (Especially for iNatters with a taxon name / noun / place for their user name) @mention etiquette. Not too many. Not too often. Check their profile first. Oh! Daunting - how to find the ones where the iNatter name was intended ? [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?q=kestrel&search\_on=tags](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?q=kestrel&search_on=tags) [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/328964360](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/328964360) 😁 PS @ciafre you have 2 more … ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 10:16am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/users-misunderstanding-tagging/73550/16 "2026-02-09T10:16:49Z")
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