# What is your what-to-post bias on iNat, and why?

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-is-your-what-to-post-bias-on-inat-and-why/40266>\
**Category:** General\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [March 22, 2023, 6:07am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-is-your-what-to-post-bias-on-inat-and-why/40266 "2023-03-22T06:07:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 35

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**Author:** ![jasonhernandez74](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jasonhernandez74/32/33615_2.png) [@jasonhernandez74](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jasonhernandez74)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 12:36am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-is-your-what-to-post-bias-on-inat-and-why/40266/35 "2023-03-23T00:36:51Z")

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> [@graysquirrel](#):
>
> I’ve noticed I avoid posting anything I think won’t get identified to species.

Same. Unless it is a seriously underobserved taxon such as [Tubificid worms](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/105194361).

> [@quillipede](#):
>
> I’m biased against things that seem cultivated or captive, which I imagine is somewhat common

Yes. Although my aversion to them is only on iNaturalist; I don’t mind the sight of them if they aren’t cluttering up my identify tab. I try to remember that some people are just such newbies to nature that they honestly don’t know the difference, but it seems like such a basic distinction to me – even in a place where I have never been and don’t know the flora, I can still tell when several of the same thing are growing evenly spaced and neatly trimmed along a foundation.

On any given day, I only stop to photograph a small portion of what I see. I have my notepad and pencil out, recording vegetation patterns (“The canopy layer was…”), phenology, and animal sightings, and I don’t really like to interrupt this stream of consciousness to take pictures unless something particularly catches my interest. I have read enough nature writing and scientific papers to know that pictures are not the be-all-end-all.

My what-to-post bias includes a preference for exotic (to me) locales. In the other thread about the [Annual iNaturalist Survey](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/an-annual-inat-naturalist-survey/40272), there was extensive discussion about the overrepresentation of the United States. I find that when I am traveling in those underrepresented countries, I am more inclined to photograph and post more of what I see, and also more motivated to go on field days in the first place.

Conversely, when I look at observations in my hometown, I get a sense of what _not_ to post by seeing what has already been observed the most.

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