Blocking other iNatters
Hi. It has been several months since I have posted, for several reasons.
I am now approaching 10,000 Research-Graded records. I really consider records not Research Graded to be of little or no value. So, if experts like @jayhorn or @brandonwoo or @coolcrittersyt claim that a record cannot be identified to species, then I have begun to delete these observations; goodbye "Skudder's Bush Katydids!" But those are few; most of my non-RGed records have had no other identifications. As of today -- and I have yet to add 100+ records from yesterday of nocturnal moths and other insects -- I have 1,440 records that are not RGed.
If anybody wants to help with any of these IDs -- but please don't guess! -- then my non-RGed records are here:
Most of my interactions with fellow iNatters have been enjoyable, but some iNatters have driven me up a wall with certain actions. Yesterday, I learned that iNat lets you block 3 users, which prevents them from messaging you or commenting in any way on any of your observations. I would prefer to block 4 users, but one of them will remain unblocked because of iNat's limit.
Last night, I blocked the three users because:
1) one of them, who has nearly 250,000 identifications, follows me so that he knows when I post a bunch of new observations. Then he quickly IDs a bunch of them to move them into Research Grade. This individual may think that I am competent in the ID of non-birds, but for the most part, I rely on the "machine learning" ID skills of iNat (for birds, I am expert, so all I am looking for is somebody to agree with my ID to move the observation into RG) . When this individual agrees with iNat's ID and moves the record to Research Grade, he may be causing the record to be misidentified. I have learned that this misidentifying has occurred several times. As a result, I have blocked this individual from making any more IDs of my observations, and I am seeking opinions from several known experts for all the observations that he moved into Research Grade.
2) the two others iNatters whom I have blocked have each been a thorn in my side for many months. They do not understand the rules regarding escaped birds and routinely mark my observations as "not wild," therefore causing them to be listed as Casual rather than Research Grade. Well, no more! I will resubmit several observations that these two individuals have contaminated, and they should be accepted as Research Grade with no interference. One of the individuals even struck down a record of a VAGRANT Masked Duck from the West Indies! Some people just have to meddle with other's records; they just can't leave well enough alone. Too bad, but I don't like having to check all my Florida birds every few months to see if any of them have been downgraded to Casual because some other iNatter doesn't understand the rules. Thanks to iNat, I won't be hampered by these two individuals anymore.
