I’ve been recording the number of observers in Nova Scotia for a few years, on a daily basis. On the 18th of August there were 24330 observers; today, after almost daily double digit decreases, there are 24271 observers. The only increase during this time of observers was on 24 August, a 204 observer increase. These numbers seem odd…is it a glitch or are duplicate accounts being merged?
i didn’t actually look into your issue, but what you’re describing sounds like https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/total-number-of-inat-species-is-decreasing/31811/27.