Waiting fo ID`s

OK, I am patient, but, waiting monts for specialists to ID my observations….

i am not sure for how long i will participate here.

Best Regardfs !

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You can use @ to tag one of the top identifiers of the family or genus you think your observation is in.
However naked @’s with no additional text, just @[person], seem rude and are like ‘identify my observation NOW’ so write something like “@[person] What do you think of this?” or something like that

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You know that identifiers are volunteers - like you - with skills to offer, as they help to ID for others?

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welcome to the forum

I can understand wanting to have your records IDed as soon as possible, but a key thing to remember about iNaturalist is that all identifiers are volunteers, as Diana said, and there are lots and lots of records to go through!

Time taken for records to be identified will also vary greatly depending on the taxon and region you’re observing in. If you’re focusing mostly on more obscure groups, such as many invertebrate taxa, in a region without many active identifiers on iNaturalist, then it can be months or years before someone gets the chance to take a look at your records.

One thing you can do is to tag identifiers to help, but it’s good to do this in moderation. Have you actively sought out specialists to ID your records yet?

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Hello @Boza49.

I saw your photos, and they are magnificent! :star_struck:

But I see that these are often microlepidoptera: this is a complicated group, for which identification from photos, however excellent they may be, is sometimes impossible: to obtain reliable identifications, lepidopterists often resort to analysing the genitalia.
Otherwise, when you know that it is possible without genitalia, you can tag the ‘top identifiers’ of the taxon, which are visible on the website at the bottom right of the observation page (sorry, it’s in french for me) :


As you can see for this species, not many people can identify Phyllonorycter abrasella from a photo.
But feel free to mention them for feedback (I just did so regarding your observation).

Sylvain M.

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What I can recommend to you is to start identifying observations of your group of interest from other people, maybe in the same or neighboring regions - in this way, you will directly decrease the time that some people have to wait for identifications :slight_smile: and some of them might have a look through your observations afterwards…

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check out https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-get-identifications-for-your-observations/26429

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And perhaps try to view IDs as, not a right, but a gift. Every ID is a gift of someone’s time.

That doesn’t mean identifiers expect constant thanks, but it’s important to recognise that uploading an observation does not mean an ID is guaranteed, for a wide variety of reasons (from ‘nothing is actually recognisable from that photo’ to ‘beautiful photo, unfortunately no one on iNat knows what it is’, to ‘could be identified if the right person looked at it, but it’s buried under 10 million other observations’).

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You should be happy, you already have a high percentage of ID’s compared to mine… ;-)

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I’m pretty sure we all are.

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It would be a loss for us, should you choose to leave.
You’ve heard from several about a few of the ways to better your success at garnering ids.
I think a hurdle we all needed to cross was/is the length of time before “instant gratification” happens here. Some ids come in before I can get the annotations and observation fields filled in.
Others have sat idly waiting for years.
Please give iNat a longer try, it takes awhile to gain traction for new and not so new users, there’s a lot going on here!

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Moths are difficult observations for identifiers. High species diversity, few comprehensive references, often poor-quality photos. Few experts even in scientific fields so even fewer on iNaturalist. My moths get identified at about 19% of total observations. As I get more familiar with the breadth of species in a genus or family, I have been working on increasing the number of identifications I provide. I think it is probably the only way for moth IDs to increase. I don’t think there is going to be a sudden influx of experts in the field.

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so true! Identifiers are people who have real jobs, real families, real lives. In nearly all circumstances, identifiers are identifying for free and enjoy it.

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As gerrit_oehm wrote, providing IDs for other people helps them out, but it also makes more people notice your observations. This worked for me.

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Hello, Boza49 welcome to our community. I thought and still think iNaturalist is about to contribute and to share observations - helping to increase the database of living things, worldwide. One result of iNat citizen scientist observations is, I guess, the continuous improvement of iNat’s AI. Of course we like observations being IDed, but imo its more like a much appreciated side product …

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I have a bunch of moths waiting, too. But, right now, people in the northern hemisphere are out finding things. They don’t spend much time making identifications. I find that a lot of my insect observations that are waiting for an ID get processed in the winter/colder months. I also find that using specific Facebook groups gets me more immediate identifications if I just can’t wait for something really interesting.

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You can tag top identifiers with a message asking for help – for example “@_____ would you be able to assist with ID?”. That’s usually what I do – If I need my observations ID’d quickly. Most of us on here are volunteering our time, it would explain the delay in responses. Some species it may be required to examine ‘microscopic’ genitalia and that’s obviously not visible in the majority of photos that we post. If you know what to look for you could speed up the process by trying to get some photos to make the identification easier (if it’s possible). For example some species of smaller spiders are ID’d this way. On the contrary, tarantulas are a lot easier to sex usually with a magnifying glass or molt.

For a few species I uploaded that I had a particular fondness for and were taking an extra long time to get identified, rather than ask the top identifier to just come ID my photo, I also asked if they could point me to resources so that I could start to identify them myself. Since then I’ve been confident in making species IDs on many of my own observations because I am able to go through the criteria myself and learned what was necessary to photograph and document. And now I’ve gone on to identify for others as well. You may think of this as an opportunity to grow your own rare and needed taxonomic skills that you could then pass along to others.

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To be honest, I think the percentage of your observations that have gotten IDs or confirmation is pretty good, given your focus on moths and other arthropods that are often difficult to ID from photos. You’re also in an area with relatively high biodiversity and I suspect relatively fewer IDers familiar with the region.

Judicious use of @ mentioning of relevant specialists can be useful, particularly if the observation is older and/or unusual. Most specialists appreciate having good, IDable photos to look at and sometimes if they know there is a user who regularly posts high-quality and interesting observations, they will make a point of either following you or regularly checking your observations.

However: note that many of us are fairly overwhelmed, particularly during the summer months, and may react with annoyance to excessive @ mentions (dozens of observations at a time) or regular @ mentions for observations that are less than a few days old. We are all volunteers, meaning that we have no obligation to ID anything at all, and we may resent observers acting as though they are entitled to demand IDs from us.

It appears that you have some expertise yourself – that is, you are not relying on the computer suggestions or expert users to come up with your IDs, at least for the moths. If this is the case, you might consider helping ID observations for other users. This isn’t a requirement, and there is no guarantee that it will result in people IDing your observations in return (you should not ID merely because you expect people to reciprocate, as this is generally a recipe for disappointment). The benefits are less tangible: IDing strengthens community ties. You would be interacting with other users in a positive and helpful way, which creates goodwill and also makes it more likely that other people will see your name, stop by your profile, and take an interest in you and your observations. This is particularly true of other taxon specialists. Many of us like to know who our “colleagues” are and we’re likely to make an extra effort to support users who we feel give back to the community and are companions in a shared undertaking.

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I just looked at your first page. The only one I knew was the Indian-meal Moth, which was already at RG.