I mean comparing photos of taxons, not iding something on your own photos.
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That’s literally how the computer vision here works.
Yes, and there are a lot of problems documented with computer vision’s suggestions of fly species. I think it’s worth saying to be very cautious identifying flies based on comparing to other iNat images.
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For myself, I don’t want an explanation when someone makes an identification for an obscure arthropod group for one of my observations. If that person has expertise I’ll trust them, and my hands are already full understanding the most common species in my area. I think most but not all iNat users feel the same way, so I don’t leave an explanation until asked.
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I don’t know about most iNat users but it’s definitely not all iNat users… If someone is willing to leave an explanation, I would like one. I may trust them (and I do trust a lot of the people who make frequent ids on my obs) but I’d like to learn how to do an id myself if possible. I consider it a gift when someone leaves me id tips.
I’d hate to have a blanket decree made of “don’t leave an explanation until asked.”
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I care about how to identify some taxa but not others. The thing is, you don’t know which I care enough to learn about and which I don’t. (I am somewhat curious about some flies.) So if it’s convenient for you, please leave an explanation. I have a file of explanations about the grasses identify, so I can copy and paste an explanation when I want to. If it’s not convenient, it’s OK to not leave an explanation, of course.
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Indeed! I really appreciate getting explanations. Even the briefest ones are interesting and helpful. I realize I cannot expect such generosity every time, but it is very appreciated when offered.
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Please ask then! I’ve yet to meet someone who leaves IDs on iNaturalist who can’t give you extensive explanations if asked! Just when I’m going thru and most people aren’t interested in asking it’s not worth the time to leave it gratuitously if it means I make 1 in 30 as many identifications. But maybe it’d be a good middle ground to leave a link to https://sites.google.com/view/flyguide where I’ve typed up IDs?
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Good to know! I learn something every day. I will try leaving short explanations and see what happens.
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Wow what a great piece of work those guides! All types of efforts made by experts into helping others IDing is greatly appreciated. And yes I am one of those that when finds a comment giving information about an observation is super-happy (how to ID it, peculiarity/rarity etc of the species), though I fully understand it would be overwhelming for experts to do so often.
As for the identifications, yes please identify also the common ones! I think that’s very important to keep iNaturalist working more than anything else and to keep “amateur” observers like me coming back to use it and slowly learn!
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Wow, that guide is amazing! Is there a place in iNaturalist where these guides are kept? How do we find other guides?
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There is a section for Guides on iNaturalist, though their usefulness will vary based on location, purpose, the amount of work put into them, etc.
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides
Also, welcome to the forum!
@tiwane informs me that the ‘link’ section on the ‘about’ page for each taxon is the best place to look.
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I will say: if you are going to disagree with my ID, please leave an explanation! I have been known to change my ID, if I’m given a convincing reason; but without a good reason, it’s just another opinion to me.
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