New Curators: Do not editorialize and change or delete common names without consulting our accepted sources.

[Charlie Hohn]

I've just realized that one new site user and curator has been deleting common names that aren't on some reference site they use (which AFAIK isn't even one of our accepted references), and is capitalizing all of the plant names, after the community painstakingly decided not to.

Please. Don't. Do. That. Stuff.  And if you are going to make someone a curator maybe tell them not to mess with stuff without asking first. It's super annoying, at least a few and maybe a lot of commonly accepted common English names got messed with and it's super annoying.

Maybe we need to make the criteria for being a curator more stringent. 

[Tim. Reichard]

The bug that displays lowercase names in Title case on many newly designed site pages may play a large role in curators miscapitalizing non-animal common names.  The Add Name and Edit Name pages would be good places to display the capitalization rules. 

Tim

[Scott Loarie]

Does the current text under Names in the curator guide
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/curator+guide#names capture what you
guys have in mind for capitalization rules? If not, can someone
concisely explain any discrepancies?

Thanks,

Scott

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--
--------------------------------------------------
Scott R. Loarie, Ph.D.
Co-director, iNaturalist.org
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Dr
San Francisco, CA 94118
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[James Bailey]

Can we have a log detailing who removes or changes names and what those names were? This would make it easier to keep track of these things and revert any unwanted changes?

Since there are so many sources and references all over the world I usually default the common to the one that is most commonly used. If no name in particular is used (in 70% or more instances), I then refer to accepted references.

[Mike Burrell]

I raised this last week (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/inaturalist/_cYDsXY-7gw)...there is no actual wording in the curator guide for how to deal with **global** (default) common names. The curator guide sets out which taxonomies to follow, but there is nothing about a hierarchy to follow (e.g. which plant taxonomy takes precedence?). This will only become more of an issue as iNaturalist grows from its American roots. Something definitely should be added in the curator guide to lay out how to decide if a common name should be updated (and more generally, a hierarchy of taxonomies to follow). The curator guide does mention deafult names but the wording is out dated "Currently the default common name for a taxon is the first English name that was added to iNat. In the future curators should be able to declare a default name more explicitly, but for now it's just based on order."

[ellen hildebrandt]

The curator guide also states "Any iNat user can add names using the "Add a name" link". So we're blaming curators why?

[Mike Burrell]

Ellen,

I believe "Any iNat user" can add a name, but only curators can adjust the order (hierarchy) of the names or edit existing names. So only a curator can adjust which name is the default.

Mike

[Charlie Hohn]

Ellen, names were also deleted.

On Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 1:51:19 PM UTC-4, ellen hildebrandt wrote:

[James Bailey]

A user named nutcracker has been editing quite a few names recently (which coincidentally are older names on iNaturalist, which are now raised to position 1), but I don't know if they are responsible for any of this other activity.

[ellen hildebrandt]

Once a new common name is added, it becomes the default. I can't find a way to select a preference for common names (which probably makes sense). 

Or am i missing something?

User nutcracker is committing no greater sin than contributing additional common names. 

We would probably all be less annoyed if regionality could be attached to names, and our account settings could filter these common names accordingly

Is that worth the effort? Lay people might appreciate it.

[ellen hildebrandt]

@Mike Burrell, can you show me how to do that?

On Monday, July 10, 2017 at 7:55:17 PM UTC-5, Charlie Hohn wrote:

[Charlie Hohn]

Nutcracker was also getting rid of other common names other than his/her preferred one. I am not anti-Nutcracker, they are a great resource in conifer ID, but in terms of common name editing, they weren't following the established etiquette. 

Regionality CAN be attached to common names but it doesn't work that well. The website header and tab as well as the app keep showing 'alder buckthorn' even though that name is not supposed to be the name used for my location. That one is particularly bad because we already have another 'alder-leaf buckthorn' here which is a native species. The issue caused a lot of frustration here in Vermont.  I agree though that the root problem isn't any one curator, but the system needs to be made less buggy and when someone becomes a curator they need to read through and understand the policies before delving into taxonomy. I once made a big taxonomic mistake too,... 

[ellen hildebrandt]

Thanks, Charlie. 

On Monday, July 10, 2017 at 7:55:17 PM UTC-5, Charlie Hohn wrote: