Why not empower recognised experts?

If the ability to download the identifications of individual users were possible, this still might be an issue, but there would be a really good workaround. As is, it is essentially impossible to separate expert IDs from novice IDs. I would like to see the ability to sort by the name of an identifier (annotations for specimens too), but I wouldn’t know who to contact.

I agree with @aspidoscelis, but think that if the ability to download user identifications were implemented, there wouldn’t be as much need to get violently upset about differences of opinion in taxonomy. There’s still the potential for hostility, but at least it’s not the end all, be all if you want the data. In those situations, it’s of coarse better if a single name can be reached so that an observation can reach “research grade” (I like the term “community reviewed” better).

Ultimately, I view this as a patch to the root problems which need to be worked on more, but it is a patch that would at least make data quality sorting possible. It’s a patch I’ve wanted for well over a year now (probably a few years now actually) and I think its something that iNaturalist desperately needs for researchers as a whole to see it as a valuable tool.

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