View affected content after taxon change

Feature Requests
1

Taxon changes affecting a user’s content appear on their dashboard. This includes identifications and observations of that taxon, as well as IDs/observations of any children of that taxon.

Screen Shot 2022-02-15 at 11.07.34 PM

I would like to be able to see which of my IDs/observations have been affected by such a taxon change, but this is not possible. “Update your content” would be helpful if I opted out of taxon changes, but I haven’t so my IDs/observations updated automatically. Clicking View Details is not helpful because no observations are left with the old ID.
Screen Shot 2022-02-15 at 11.11.14 PM

Users can search for inactive IDs on the ID search page using &current=any, but that isn’t always helpful. With changes involving the movement of children, I don’t know which children were moved from the now inactive parent, so I have no idea which name I may have used.

Here is an example. In the screenshots above I swapped subgenus Niotha with genus Nassarius, moving all species from the former to the latter. I got the dashboard notification because I have an observation of N. livescens, which was in Niotha and moved to be directly grafted to Nassarius. Looking at the observation, no one would have any idea that a swap occurred.
Screen Shot 2022-02-15 at 11.29.23 PM
I was only able to trace what happened because I committed the swap and was familiar with the taxonomic background.

I would like to be able to see all such IDs/observations from a taxon change notification. Perhaps for users who do not opt out of taxon changes, “Update your content” could read “View affected content.” If I’m getting the notification, the system obviously knows about these observations, but I’m not sure how easy it would be to locate them retroactively. I would rather not opt out of taxon changes, but that seems to be the only way to see this; i.e. I have to see the observations before the change happens.

2

I approved this, but I think you’re right that the system isn’t currently set up to track changes in a way that would let you view them after they happen. I also personally doubt that the developers want to add the extra complexity to make it possible (though I have been wrong about the developers’ priorities before). I suppose I could imagine an alternate system that allows you to hold your IDs in limbo for a little while, giving you time to check on them, but then would swap them automatically after some grace period. :woman_shrugging: Just thinking out loud…

2 Likes
3

I totally agree with that request, every time there’s a change you can’t check what’s been updated, so it seems as if system wants you not to have an automatic update turned on.

2 Likes
4

What page…?

5

https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?taxon_id=324543

1 Like
6

Another instance where this happened from an observation I had IDed, but it wasn’t an instance where my ID was affected.
Screen Shot 2022-03-06 at 11.23.19 PM

Screen Shot 2022-03-06 at 11.24.21 PM

So this notification and related request would have to include all observations I’m subscribed to (at least with an ID), not just ones where my ID is affected. Not sure if I also get the notification if I just comment.

7

This would also be helpful for separating observations affected by splits, if some of them stay the same but others are changed or bumped to a higher level taxon.