The working scientists (some of them) resent being reminded that iNat IS social media first. Encouraging NON-scientists to ‘see nature’ is the purpose of iNat.
If your photos are on your computer, for your eyes only, that, is not social media. Every observer who hopes for an ID is relying on social media. We are a neurodiverse community, treading gently on each other’s feelings. Slowly iNat is beginning to show up on Google, bringing in new people.
My pre-digital photos on print are not worth the effort of adding. But I have a resource of photos from my blog and there I can retrieve the good stuff to fill out my lifelist. I have seen … now where and when is the photo.
That we get new species added to CV each month has added an even better favourite layer to the iNat experience! Bonus points since we no longer have to climb the Hundred Obs Mountain first - the one I noticed has only 19 obs - which means we will be adding rare and unusual species to same old seen everywhere stuff 