Unfair Practices at E-bird

[Paul Peterson]

One would think Ryan Schain could set aside his feelings towards me for the purposes of having an accurate e-bird database. I see on e-bird that Bob Stymeist has the first Suffolk Co. Palm Warbler of the year on April something. I saw one on January 13, and gave great notes. I had asked Ryan Schain to review it. He apparently doesn't want to. It has been three months since my sighting.
Now I see that Marshall has the first Northern Rough-winged Swallows of the year for Suffolk Co. on April 6 or something like that. Interesting, because I saw one on his turf at West Roxbury High School Wetland on March 31, and gave details. 

[Paul Peterson]

Correction on the date of the Northern Rough-winged Swallow sighting. It was April 2 that I saw it, not March 31.

[Marshall Iliff]

All,

Paul regularly has these types of posts, which I would argue are inappropriate for this forum. He recently was banned from Massbird for two months because of this type of post, and if Boston Birds was moderated by anyone, I expect the same might be true here as well.

I will address this once and once only, to set the record straight for Paul and others. Ryan need not reply to Paul's accusations -- I know for a fact that Ryan has been extremely fair and diligent in his reviews of Suffolk County.

If any others on this forum have questions about how eBird works, or the eBird review process, I am happy to answer them. It is a complicated process, and the review process is a bit opaque and it is not necessarily obvious how it works. We have a full article on the eBird review process here, which gives a good accounting of how we try to give scientific credibility to the aggregated sightings from birdwatchers of all skill levels from all over the planet: 

http://help.ebird.org/customer/portal/articles/1055676

It is essential to recognize that the eBird validation process *depends* on the ability to correspond with users for follow-up on rare sightings. Some people simply make typos; others fail to fully consider the options in a rare species identification. Reviewers must be able to correspond with eBirders and most participants appreciate this (please chime in if you agree!).

Paul has repeatedly declared that he will not participate in this process (i.e., will not respond to emails) and as such, his records need to be judged based solely on the brief notes he provides and the judgment of the eBird review team. There is absolutely nothing personal at all the eBird reviews in Massachusetts, and Paul has received more special treatment and respect than he realizes. But if Paul is unwilling to respond to follow-up emails, then we cannot review his most unusual records fairly. Despite numerous offers and proposed solutions, Paul consistently fails to take part, and for this reason his records tend to be treated more conservatively than those of people who can respond to emails asking for follow-up details. The records he cite provide enough detail to suggest a correct ID, but not enough to give complete confidence. None are first state records, but all are rare enough that the eBird review team expects a higher level of documentation.

Ryan and I discuss Paul's records regularly with other members of the eBird review team and I can assure you that Paul's behavior causes plenty of stress. Our goal is to maintain a well-vetted database for the use of birders, scientists, and conservationists. We know Paul is a skilled observer, but we also are unwilling to accept records of his that deserve more detail than he is unwilling to provide. The tone of his emails, publicly and privately, causes plenty of further stress. 

We value Paul's contributions, but I would urge him to put less thought and effort into seeing where his name appears and does not appear in eBird output. He has many hundreds of rarities that we have validated in eBird without question, but he seems to obsess over the three or four that are still awaiting a decision or have been marked as "Documentation--Inadequate". eBird is not a scoresheet, it is a scientific database, although we do provide output like Top100, Yard/Patch, and Arrivals to hopefully inspire *healthy* competition. For Paul, the competition is clearly not healthy, and I would again urge him to focus more on the birds than on the stats.

Participation in the documentation process is the best way for Paul to ensure that his records appear, provided that he can adequately document his unusually early Northern Rough-winged Swallows (eliminating female Tree Swallow in what has been a late migration year), late Palm Warbler (which is quite unusual in Boston in winter), and record-early Common Nighthawks. Record-early records, quite simply, often need good levels of detail. Many observers fail to appreciate that some species are extremely unusual outside of established migration windows, especially in cold years like this one.

I have had five years of correspondence with Paul, including a large number of rude emails he sent to me privately and publicly. I am happy to share anything I have ever written to him since he has accused me of being unfair and rude to him, and I am quite certain I have maintained a patient tone in at least 38/40 such emails to him--far better than his score. But I don't think that is a good use of this forum either and would urge Paul and others to return to bird sightings, questions, or other topics related to birds and bird observations and not items of a personal nature.

His accusations that his treatment has been biased and unfair are patently false. Period.

Best of birding to Paul, but I hope he understands that the scientific integrity of eBird will always come first. If he wishes to re-engage, we invite him to. If participation in eBird is not to his liking, he need not enter his sightings. eBird is not for everyone.

Best,

Marshall Iliff

eBird Project Leader

On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 4:17 PM, Paul Peterson <peterso...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Correction on the date of the Northern Rough-winged Swallow sighting. It was April 2 that I saw it, not March 31.

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****************************
Marshall J. Iliff
miliff AT aol.com
West Roxbury, MA
****************************
eBird/AKN Project Leader
www.ebird.org
www.avianknowledge.net
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ithaca, NY
****************************

[Soheil Zendeh]

Marshall, my experience with the eBird reviewer (primarily Jeremiah Trimble) has been that they are firm but polite. And once questions and answers about the sighting have been exchanged, the reviewer is fair. 'nuff said.

 

 

Soheil Zendeh

42 Baker Avenue

Lexington, MA 02421

 

cell 617-763-5637

home 781-863-2392

 

sze...@rcn.com

 

TASL website: http://032acf2.netsolhost.com/tasl.htm

[Paul Peterson]