I’ve been on an ID’ing spree lately in microscopic organisms. I’ve noticed a not-insignificant number of observations that are (unfortunately) just scratches on a slide, a bubble, or a stray fiber. These organisms do get auto-ID’d as a specific genus or species though.
What’s the best way to handle these observations? Clearly they aren’t maliciously uploading images, so a flag seems inappropriate. Seeing debris and thinking it’s something alive is pretty common for people new to microscopy. I’ve seen people add just “life” as the ID, or comment, but then the observations stay in a list of “needs ID”.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thought about this before, but I searched to see if others have talked about this and didn’t come up with any results.