As @plantman4 noted, flagging the observation itself is generally the best route. Users can then leave a comment on the flag describing the issue. If there are issues with the same behavior on multiple observations, links to them can be given in the comment. This is usually more efficient than creating a lot of individual flags with the same explanation for each.
Looks like theyâve all been put back now; I just went to your iNat page to help out with this.
Iâm with you there.
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Platform (Android, iOS, Website):
Website
Browser, if a website issue (Firefox, Chrome, etc) :
All
URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88004525
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/125641337
Screenshots of what you are seeing (instructions for taking a screenshot on computers and mobile devices: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/):
Description of problem (please provide a set of steps we can use to replicate the issue, and make as many as you need.):
Observations were showing âNeeds IDâ
Moved this to the âofficialâ topic. See the top post in this thread for explanations, but it looks like someone had voted that the community ID could be improved.
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Website
Safari
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143226407
Observation not research grade and only shown as a butterfly observation when 8 people identified it as a Painted Lady and no one contested it. It still says the community taxon has to be precise to be research grade.
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thereâs no bug here. the observer has an ID that is different from the community ID and they have chosen to opt out of community ID in this observation.
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@pisum
Thank you! I didnât know that existed before.
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In such cases, it can make sense to leave a comment for the user noting that the ID cannot be updated because they have opted out of community taxon and suggesting that they consider revising their ID or opting back in. The user doesnât have many observations, so they may have chosen the setting without realizing the effects of doing so.
Because Iâve found the observer response rate to be low for opted-out observations, you might also check the box âID cannot be improvedâ in the DQA at the bottom of the page. This will take the observation out of âneeds IDâ and prevent additional IDers from falling into the trap of trying to ID it and not understanding why their ID doesnât do anything.
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Has not been on iNat since 2022.
Opted Out.
Best option is to leave a comment to that effect to save all the pointless effort by 8 identifiers - who could have taken 4 more obs to RG instead!
I would like Opted Out up top (meanwhile teach your autopilot to look for that ⌠before you ID, or click Mark as Reviewed and Next.
next to Wild / Not Wild
and RG / Needs ID / Broken.
Opted Out needs a better onboarding explanation for newbies.
Or reconsider that option where an observer can opt out for ALL of their obs. Case by case it makes sense.
Opted Out is not visible on the popup when we are in Identify? We have to open each obs to see that problem at all?
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I have great difficulty at times understanding the Casual tag. For example this fungi is IDâed to Order (except 1 who has gone for Genus) and I have marked it as canât be improved (because it simply canât) yet itâs still Casual.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154250479
Also I have posted Domestic Cattle from around the world and all those in the UK are Casual and all those anywhere else are Research Grade. Iâve also posted Domestic Horse from UK and abroad but both are Research grade.
It doesnât seem there is any consistency. Confused.
For your own obs
You have chosen to tick - no - good as can be - pushing it to Casual.
If you remove that, it will revert to Needs ID.
If you mouseover the Not Wild vote - you can see if it was an iNatter - then you can ask them why. If it is the iNat default - most cattle in the UK are Captive, you can counter that with your own Wild vote on obs.
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this is how that box works. If the community ID is at family or coarser, ticking it will make the observation casual. If itâs at subfamily or finer, it will become research grade.
if those cattle were captive, ie not wild, then this is also correct; iNaturalistâs focus is on wild organisms, so captive or cultivated observations (farm animals, pot plants etc) should be marked as not wild and become casual
if your photos are of captive animals, they should be marked as not wild. If theyâre feral horses, then they can reach RG
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It canât be identified beyond Genus because without the host, it canât be determined. Therefore ticking the box is the right thing to do, but Casual just doesnât seem right because it is definitely identified to Genus.
two elements here:
-
that observation you linked to is not definitely identified to genus; that genus ID has been explicitly disagreed with
-
even if there was no explicit disagreement by the latest ID to order, it would still go to casual as the tickbox assesses the community ID, not the observation ID, which is a subtle difference. You can see this on the right hand side of the page
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Sorry I meant Order
That is the intended behaviour of the âcasualâ tag in this case. The idea is that if an organism canât be identified at least to a subfamily (or a finer taxon), then it wonât be useful for research and canât reach âresearch gradeâ.
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This observation https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/225574827 , by a colleague, seems to have all the requisites for research grade, 4 IDs, a reasonable photo, accurate location to 10m. But still shows âNeeds IDâ. All the DQA have green ticks. Explanations much appreciated.
The observer has ticked âyes, the Community Taxon can still be confirmed or improvedâ at the bottom of the DQA, which will keep it at Needs ID until they are outvoted.
2 Likes
Android and Chrome
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/230194365
Has 4 positive IDs, no dissent, but still shows as needs ID.
Because someone ticked âyesâ for âBased on the evidence, can the Community Taxon still be confirmed or improved?â I have counter-voted, itâs RG now
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