Why does my id change

So I’m not really sure if this is a quirk or if it’s supposed to happen. When someone suggests an id & I don’t agree with it, my id still disappears at the top & it goes to their suggestion. I can change it back to mine, but it almost immediately reverts back to theirs. Is there a way to fix this? I’m using the app on my iphone.

1 Like

What do you mean by “don’t agree with it”? That’s not an option in the iOS app. Can you please provide a screenshot showing what you are tapping on?

I’m imagining that you call it something, then it gets called something else and the id displayed changes to something which is not what you called it. If this is the case then it’s because iNat uses community ID, and the system works out a concensus ID based on all IDs made. You can ask others why they IDd differently, and often they will tell you (I call these “learning opps”)… Or you could choose to opt out of community I’d (for the one obs or for all by default), but then your obs won’t reach research grade)

1 Like

This is how I understood the question, too. There is no “disagree” button, but as I’m looking at one of my observations on the app I can see where it would be confusing. The community ID is shown under the photo, and at the bottom it kind of looks like a choice among “Agree,” “Comment,” and “Suggest ID,” which could possibly seem to be asking a person who does not agree to enter their initial ID again. But it isn’t necessary to enter your ID again–just wait until someone else gives their opinion.

Maybe this explains why new users often choose to opt-out?

1 Like

Yeah, I mostly see it where a new user has first encountered a CID that differs to what they know it as. There are interesting legit reasons for it, to. One observer I queried said she uses it as a way of “forcing herself” to research new taxa that she comes across, as she won’t agree until she has. That reply almost had me setting it too!

1 Like

Is that in the iOS app or in the dashboard on the website?

the ios app

Yes, I can see where it could lead one to suggest the same ID again–I’ve always wondered why that happens.

2 Likes

When I’ve discussed this issue with newer users of the app, a lot of times what is happening is the account holder had used a placeholder ID instead of selecting an ID from the drop-down (the drop-down can take forever to populate, or there can be glitches with the app). When this happens, the observation is Unknown, with the placeholder the user gave it. However, the placeholder text disappears, with no record of it saved, with the first identification from the community. A problem arises when the user had assigned a more specific identification in their placeholder (example: species), but the person who gave an ID provided a more general identification (example: family).

I don’t know if that’s what is happening in this situation, but I know it’s come up before.

2 Likes

I think the placeholder is still there, just hidden. If the ID is deleted, it reappears.

Hi @Becky123, there are a few of us who have been trying to figure out the answer to your question “Why does my id change.” We’ve been discussing different possible scenarios, but we’re not sure about the specific facts regarding what you experienced. Could you provide some more step-by-step detail? Also, could you provide a link to an example of an observation on which this happened? Thanks!

3 Likes