Why do some serious "power users" add so many unknown observations?

[kiwifergus]

@jdmore

I don’t think it would help @mira_l_b’s situation

I don’t think opting out would help anyway, because others still could ID, it just wouldn’t affect CID. I think she wants to “block” IDs, so that she can have an attempt at putting IDs without being influenced by what others put?

[mira_l_b]

I ended up tagging those that were quickly IDing and explaining I had a storage issue…blah blah blah… people were nice about it and I felt silly. I also added a line to the top of my profile asking people not to ID my stuff. I gave up though eventually, and decided I need a better system for setting aside my leps and generally, for dealing with backlogs in all areas.

I really did a learn a lot here though from asking my original question to being on the other side of my speculation.

Thanks everyone, I am going to go double check that my vote for the “draft mode” (like @jdmore referenced) is still there.

[fffffffff]

Maybe the app should be updated so all those problems with uploading would disappear? It’s not hard to post observations fast with photos from storage but it leads to many doubled obs, missing obs, etc. And those problems are always there.
Cursing IDs that involves high level taxes do only good for your observation, and if experts Id it at species level it’s even better.

[edolis]

Love this!. Is there any place you can download this template or - do you mind sharing it?

[kiwifergus]

Message me in iNat with your email address, I’ll send a PDF…

[Star3]

@tonyrebelo

While busy with higher ranking identifications, one that I would really appreciate is that of “Not Life”, for observations of rocks and minerals (some look like lichens or fossils), clouds, rain, fire (although perhaps that is living) and so forth.

I would love this.

[Star3]

@tonyrebelo, did you ever submit a feature request for “Not Life”?
I’ll definitely upvote it!

[grace_sibley]

@lotteryd

Then there’s finding the really weird stuff that stays unknown but I have to favorite it just in case the mystery is solved. Like, what the heck?

Is there a “what the heck?” project that we could add weird observations to? I’ve run across some interesting unknowns where I have no idea what they are but seem identifiable if they could be seen by the right set of eyes! Like this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27262103 (fungi? insect eggs?) Or this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8712578 (chocolate-covered pretzel snack?)

[graysquirrel]

@grace_sibley

Is there a “what the heck?” project that we could add weird observations to?

If you find one (or make one) let me know, I’ve run across a lot of things that make me go “I’m sure this could be identified, if I could only figure out what kingdom it belonged to…”

[schizoform]

Piggybacking: For a while I was using the newest-first search order, but specifically starting on page 5. That way everyone would have time to fill in their observations from a home computer, but newbs would get still get a relatively-quick response.

[lotteryd]

@grace_sibley

Is there a “what the heck?” project that we could add weird observations to?

This might be the place!
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/weirdwildwonders

(I’ve been holding off adding much to that so far, but I could probably triple the size of the project just by adding from my favorites pile.)

[Star3]

I love that discussions in WeirdWildWonders have resulted in the creation of at least one other project (Tilly Bones was spawned from WWW observation comments).

[JeremyHussell]

@grace_sibley

I’ve run across some interesting unknowns where I have no idea what they are but seem identifiable if they could be seen by the right set of eyes! Like this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27262103 (fungi? insect eggs?) Or this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8712578 (chocolate-covered pretzel snack?)

The first one looks like a slime mold to me, and the second like a piece of coral which has been worn down like the smooth stones you find on some beaches.

[jdmore]

@Star3

a feature request for “Not Life”?

How would this be different from downvoting the “Evidence of organism” DQA?

[charlie]

being able to search for it in the taxonomic database?

[teellbee]

@grace_sibley

Is there a “what the heck?” project that we could add weird observations to? I’ve run across some interesting unknowns where I have no idea what they are but seem identifiable if they could be seen by the right set of eyes! Like this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27262103 (fungi? insect eggs?) Or this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8712578 (chocolate-covered pretzel snack?)

I have one of those!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/47186771

[cmcheatle]

Please don’t use this platform to call out behaviour of specific users, it is against the terms of use on the forum.

[Star3]

Weird Wild Wonders?

[row_nature]

I have noticed that there is a filter that you can use to show only observations that have been added by users who created their account within the last week. I hope I’m using it correctly, but I am assuming that most newbies would welcome some guidance on adding a broad ID rather than leaving it ‘Unknown’, and it will filter out any ‘power users’ (who have surely been on the forum for more than a week).

I did have one user pop up this week who is evidently an expert naturalist (specific IDs for insects in the Placeholders, and amazing photography), so I simply added a comment explaining that people are likely to ‘help’ with adding IDs to Unknown records, and that this would likely stop after they have been using the forum for a while. As a ‘newbie’ who has been on the forum less than a week, I assumed he might want to know why people were trying to help him with IDs that he didn’t need help with.

[fffffffff]

Yes, you’re doing it right, great job to help newcomers!