I’m just curious, what is the point of having casual observations on the site? I can understand about the research-grade observations for wild animals/plants, but aside from helping the computer system (for the Seek app), learn more…? I’m not trying to be rude, but I am just wondering. Ty!

As far as i know many sites use observations without photos. You can validate those observatios with alogrithmes. And if 10 other people did observe the same organism in the same area it could be valid as well.

I just want to see my grandma’s tomatoes. -0- https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36598988 I also post those that I couldn’t photograph, e.g. I see Rooks in Moscow, where they’re not common, but always from the car, so I just make casual obs. I haven’t posted species that are not on my officia…

I‘ve posted several cultivated plants in exotic countries without a good knowledge that they were cultivated - just a mistake that was corrected, but I did not erase these OBs. Now I post cultivated plants or domestic animals (or wild ones but not in their original locality) purposefully for …

I don’t really care for the term “casual” and it almost seems to go against iNat’s objective. iNat’s goal is to get people to observe nature, but seems to treat anything cultivated as second class citizens of the natural world. I would consider myself a gardener first who happens to enjoy plants and…

Some of us old-school types have kept hand-written field notes for many years. I have field note books that go back to the 1970s. Lots of observations buried in there that are not easy to relocate. Although I don’t do it much, I’ll occasionally post a Casual record without photo on iNat to mark an o…

I totally agree. I think the “Research Grade” classification or not should be independent of whether an organism is wild or captive/cultivated or occurs in the gray area between those two (ecological restorations and reintroductions, especially). Research Grade observations should have time, date, l…

This thread answers a question I had but hadn’t pursued: How can I keep a list of all my undocumented observations? I was wondering if I added them but then marked them as private if they’d show up correctly in my lists. I’ll consider just uploading them as not having evidence (or correct time, date…

I don’t know how to upload in bulk, but if you do “uploads” without photo or sound, as far as I know they will automatically become casual without your having to mark extra fields. I’ve been recording all my recent black bear sightings, although I’m never going to be taking a photo. Very handy that…

[image] karen33317: I don’t really care for the term “casual” and it almost seems to go against iNat’s objective. iNat’s goal is to get people to observe nature, but seems to treat anything cultivated as second class citizens of the natural world. I agree. “Casual” seems to imply a value judg…

I make observations of both wild and clearly cultivated organisms worldwide. I often upload one of the best photos for curation on iNaturalist, and then come back sometimes to use this photo in one my University courses, or some other type of presentation. As far as cultivated plants, I like to lear…

What is the point of Casual Observations?

General

DianaStuder January 5, 2020, 10:01pm 26

Long discussion running here https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/rename-research-grade-discussion-and-polls/590/4

Topic		Replies	Views
What makes a sighting casual and other related questions? General	52	8520	July 19, 2019
Useful casual observations being hidden by other low-grade casual observations General question , projects	35	1820	November 14, 2022
Make captive/cultivated not automatically "no ID needed" Feature Requests	228	14231	August 28, 2026
What incentive is there for users to mark their observations as captive / cultivated? General question	89	4186	September 18, 2023
Is a wild collected plant with a known origin, cultivated in a Botanical Garden, only hobby quality or of scientific interest? General cultivated	37	2070	March 22, 2023

What is the point of Casual Observations?

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