MISSION:
• Host a miniature, collaborative event to keep the community engaged and get some unknowns sorted out and brought to relatively low ranks.
• Teach the admins more about possible different types of events
• Alert people to mentoring opportunities
• Have fun

ELIGIBILTY:
• Sign-up process: Anyone who joins the project at least 24 hrs before start time will be considered participating.
• This mini-ID blitz is a group collaborative effort, not a competition. There will be no prizes or rankings. But we will send you a private message with the number of IDs you made during the event so you can see your contribution.
Qualifying identifications:
• Identifications must be made on December 10 2021 and December 11 2021, London Time (UTC+0).
• IDs do not have to be to species! Any new ID from Kingdom down is good.
• Total IDs will be exactly tallied, and IDs in different categories will be estimated.
• Custom identification URLs will be provided, or you can just do your regular thing.

CATEGORIES:
• Unknowns: Site-wide number of unknows will be noted at the start and end of event.
• Kingdoms: Site-wide number of observations exactly at kingdom (broken down for each kingdom) will be noted at the start and end of the event.
• Collaboration link: We will assemble a link to an identify page that will pull up observations recently ID’d by participants (okay technically it will pull up all observations ever ID’d by participants but if you have it sort by recently updated, that’s good enough). People who have more low-taxa skill are encouraged to use that link, so that people sorting unknowns can see some observations get refined quickly. Instant gratification!
• Improvement: During the competition, try to beat your own daily average. In the spirit of collaboration, we will not be posting a list to show the number of identifications and degree of improvement for each participant, but we will send a private message with the number of identifications you made during the Blitz so that you can track your progress. You can check your average IDs per day here.

PARTICIPATION RULES:
• If we think you’re trying to rig the system by e.g. just hitting Agree on Research Grade observations 10,000 times (why would you even?), we’ll send you one and only one warning before booting you from the list of participants.
• No spamming or harassment of any kind will be tolerated, including but not limited to: comments made on forum threads, project journal posts, observations, or in direct user-to-user communications.
• No wagering
Prizes:
• We award you all the warm fuzzy feeling of helping out and working with a group. Use the collaboration link! Your warm fuzzy feeling will grow. Thank You!
If you have extra questions about the rules, leave a comment and one of the admins will answer and update the rules.

And finally:
Be nice, stay hydrated, always wear your seatbelt, and try to have fun!

Q: How will my identifications be counted?
A: We will ask the iNaturalist API how many identifications participants made during the event time period. Since the API does not know how many of those IDs went onto unknowns or kingdom-level observations, we will loosely estimate such totals simply by comparing how many of those observations exist before and after the event.

Q: How will the results be posted?
A: In the project journal we will share the results of the collaborative effort: totals in each category from all project members. Your personal results will be sent to you by direct message. If you would like to compare you rate of IDs before and after the blitz, you can check your average IDs per day here.

Q: What do I get if I win?
A: Trick question! This is purely a collaborative event and not a competition. The only prize we offer is new connections with other iNatters and the satisfaction of a job well done.

Q: Who are the admins, and what do they do?
A: @arboretum_amy is coordinating the event, and @beetle_mch and @radak are the co-admins. @trh_blue is also assisting with the project. We're here to keep the project running and answer any questions you might have!
Anyone else who wants to volunteer for this or upcoming events, please contact Amy.

Q: Can you help me learn more about identifying?
A: Yes! Check the Forum for information on ID workshops and mentorship opportunities, or you can send one of the admins a message.
Our most recent mentorship event is here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/sign-up-for-newbie-experienced-identifier-team-ups

Q: When should I add an observation to the project?
A: Only a few of the most noteworthy, interesting, odd, awesome, or unique observations that you come across as you are IDing should be added to the project. This is a space to share those things that really make you pause and say “I have got to show this to someone!” We know you will all do an amazing job during the blitz, and ID many, many observations. If we added them all to the project, the space would be overwhelmed. But please do feel free to share any observations that really strike you, for whatever reason.

Q: How do I add an observation to the project?
A: While viewing the observation on the iNat website, look for the “Projects” bar on the right-hand side below the Annotations box. Click in the box where it says, Add to a Project. A list will appear showing all the projects you have joined. You can select ID-Blitz December 2021 from that list, and the observation will be added. You can also just start typing ID-Blitz December 2021 in the box, and then select it when it a shorter list of matching projects you have joined is shown.

Q: Why did you choose not to use the project to count IDs?
A: It’s not really practical, and likely not even possible, even as a collection project. You can read previous IDathon FAQs for details on that.

Q: Can I mentor?
A: Informally, yes, please help your fellow iNatters. There will be a collaboration link for just this purpose, so you can see what other people in the project have been IDing. We encourage you to check that link and support and improve identifications made during this blitz. We can't add more formal mentors at this point, but we will recruit more for next time after this event has ended.

Q: Can I have a mentor?
A: We will make a journal post or two about that, but there is no formal mentorship program for this event.

if you have more questions, please add them in the comments and we will answer them.