I am finding that the term “Suggest” seems to create an opportunity for a incorrect I.D. I think it is extremely important for everyone to KNOW that an Observation is labelled correctly. If it isn’t right than no one can learn from it. I suggest that there be an “indisputable” or “known” type tag…

[image] pssw: As it stands now, I can make by best attempt at an I.D. Then someone can come along and verify or affect that I.D., by suggesting another. If I or another person agrees or suggests the same…it becomes research grade! No one might be right! How would changing the terminology fro…

[image] pssw: What or who guarantees what I’m trying to I.D., to the best of my ability, … is indisputably correct? That is the main thing about citizen science and citizen science based initiatives like iNaturalist: it is gathered and some times confirmed by non-professionals. I know there …

Nice in theory, but the truth is that nothing is ever really “known” fully. Even by experts, even by DNA barcoding, any identification is really just our best interpretation of currently available data and research. Sometimes that data is unclear, and sometimes it is very messy, and taxonomy is alwa…

It’s not about changing the terminology. It’s about being able to put a definitive end to the suggestion. A ‘suggestion’ is just that, a suggestion, nothing more. ( so in that case a terminology ‘add-on’ like ‘Known’ would be more final). A known…is something I can say is most probably definitive. …

[image] pssw: I expect it to be made by a Curator with credentials…not Joe Blow, unless they definitively know. Ah, I see. Well, as @joaolemoslima pointed out, this isn’t quite the way iNat works. That sounds more like submitting directly to a specific authority, e.g, contacting a museum, a…

speaking as a Curator. and as someone with zero formal credentials (still working on that Bachelor’s degree): I think there are two misunderstandings here. First, a Curator is not granted any special ID privileges. In fact, some of the most respected and prolific identifiers are not Curators, desp…

[image] pssw: I expect it to be made by a Curator with credentials…not Joe Blow, unless they definitively know. There are nature recoding sites that have verification systems like the one you are suggesting. The main problem with them is that there just aren’t enough verifiers who have the ti…

[image] bazwal: Personally, it has never concerned me that my iNat observations aren’t verified. By itself, a verification is worthless to me if I can’t understand exactly how the identification was made. I always feel that I should be able to confirm the identification for myself, otherwise I w…

Thank you all. This has put the whole iNat experience, for me, into a place of better understanding. Now that I understand how things work in relation to this and how others look at it… I will adjust. I highly appreciate suggestions\verifications by the way. It makes being part of iNat a lot mor…

When does “Suggest an ID” become a “Known”

General

DianaStuder July 13, 2020, 8:24pm 5

That is one reason why I see other people trawling back thru a particular taxon, to confirm that the IDs are correct.

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When suggesting IDs--should they all be very confident, or is reasonably confident sometimes enough? General	18	1811	September 14, 2019
A Kind Reminder To Only Identify What You Are Sure Of! General	31	2076	April 8, 2024
Curators changing identifications General	13	895	July 3, 2025
People making wrong suggestions General	126	7399	March 3, 2024
ID when you don’t know General	22	2651	April 3, 2020

When does “Suggest an ID” become a “Known”

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