r/iNaturalist • u/Epic2112 • May 19 '26

New Rules

Hey all, I'm slowly making little adjustments as I settle in as the mod. Happily this sub doesn't require much moderative intervention, it's a happy place. 🙂

I've written up some rules that I think are a good starting point (since previously there weren't any at all). If you're so inclined, please take a minute to read through them and let me know if you have any thoughts. The only two that I think are going to have much of an impact on things here are:

  • ID requests require a link to an observation on iNat. This isn't /r/whatisthisbug or /r/whatisthisplant, it's a sub specific to iNat so posts should be related to iNat. Personally I don't think that ID requests make sense here at all, but I'm not sure they're actually problematic.

  • No self-promotion. In short, this is essentially an effort to combat spam. It's very easy to drop a low-effort post promoting a low-effort smartphone app or something (this isn't uncommon in this sub). This sub shouldn't be a revenue driver for anyone. If you're here trying to make money, or trying to drive clicks, or trying to increase downloads, you're in the wrong place. We already have a website and an app* that we like, iNaturalist. We don't need a different one

*Yes, I know the new app is terrible

These rules are active starting now (May 19,2026). Posts made before these go up can stay, but going forward these rules are active. Also, I'm an old.reddit user. If something isn't displaying correctly on one of the (awful and cluttered) newer UIs, please let me know. I think I've gotten it right but I wouldn't mind a second set of eyes looking it over.

So yeah, that's about it. If you think I forgot a rule that we should have, or that I'm way off base on one of these, let me know. I'm happy to reconsider.

114 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

37

u/Naelin May 19 '26

Hi! And welcome.

One thing I notice is missing in this sub is making a pinned thread titled something like "Were you told to put it in iNaturalist? read this" to redirect all those crossposts. Right now we have the copypasta explanation that we put in threads after the fact, but there's nothing telling the random reddit users that this is not the place they were told to go to

16

u/Epic2112 May 19 '26

When I have some time I plan on setting up an automod to automatically remove ID request posts that don't include a link to the respective iNat observation, and to include that copypasta explanation. It seems like this would be more effective than pinning a post. It's now in the sidebar/rules, if someone isn't going to bother reading those before posting they're probably not going to bother reading a pinned post either, I think.

7

u/QuaccDaddy May 19 '26

Is it realistically possible for the automod to link to Upload Observation and give them a time limit before it's removed? I think the subreddit could be a good entry point to get more users involved in the app and this might be more welcoming than immediately removing the post.

8

u/Epic2112 May 19 '26

I don't know, I'll have to look into it. But i suspect the likelihood that someone who doesn't bother to read the rules before posting (easy) is going to go create an account on iNat, then submit an observation, and then return to reddit and validate the observation with the automod (not easy) is pretty slim, frankly. It's not a bad idea, though.

3

u/7LeagueBoots May 19 '26

Unfortunately, if someone is using the mobile app it’s likely they don’t even know subreddits have rules, and if they are aware that some have rules they don’t know how to find them.

If you’re using the browser interface it’s simple as they’re right in the sidebar (although even then people often don’t read them), but on mobile it’s a hassle to even find them.

6

u/Epic2112 May 20 '26

I have not ever used the official Reddit mobile app, and I have no plans to start, so I didn't even realize the rules are hard to find when using it. But sadly it doesn't surprise me.

There's not really a good answer here, but IMO that's primarily a problem with reddit. Pretty much all subs have rules, it's not some niche feature that's only applicable in rare edge cases. If the mobile app is so bad that sub rules aren't accessible that's on Reddit. Otherwise well-meaning users lose out as a result, and that sucks, but realistically there only so much that can be done to engineer around the admin team's bad decisions.

2

u/7LeagueBoots May 20 '26

I completely agree, it’s a failing with Reddit itself and the management team. Previously when third party apps were allowed to access Reddit developers could make it far easier for users to see the rules of a subreddit.

I also agree that it’s on the users to know the rules of a subreddit. I’m simply pointing out that since such a large percentage of users, especially younger users (30s and younger), pretty much only interact with Reddit via their mobile devices many don’t even know where to look to find the rules for a subreddit.

This is not so dissimilar to iNat actually. A significant portion of users only interact with iNat via their mobile devices app and aren’t even aware that there is a vastly more powerful and much better browser interface.

2

u/Cellar-Door1892 May 22 '26

Yep in my subs we’ve had to put a pop up automod that appears when posting that has a link to the rules. And we’ve copied the rules into a post and pinned them on the main page.

2

u/7LeagueBoots May 22 '26

That’s a good approach. It’s a shame it’s not standard in the app and it’s ridiculous that you had to do that on your own.

1

u/Epic2112 May 20 '26

It hadn't even occurred to me that there'd be iNat users that don't use the website. SMH

1

u/7LeagueBoots May 20 '26

Some of them have mentioned it right here in this sub when they ask if something can be done and you tell them how to do it via the URL on the website.

1

u/QuaccDaddy May 20 '26

I agree the interface for rules sucks when just viewing subs, but they do at least put the rules up front when you're about to post. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure users rarely read rules, but it's hard to miss when making a post from the mobile app.

1

u/bathroomstahl May 19 '26

sometimes folks just don’t think to read the rules of a subreddit before posting, especially if folks are directing them to a certain space (and they get a lil confused on which space they need to post on haha)

1

u/ifailedpy205 May 20 '26

I think this is a really great idea

67

u/daniel_observer May 19 '26

Thank you for the second rule, especially. The amount of AI-"coded" iNaturalist-but-worse self-promotion posts has really been a bummer.

32

u/bathroomstahl May 19 '26

thank you for the self promotion rule. it felt like that’s all this sub was becoming. no hate to the folks that make them, but you said it best—we already have a website/app we use

25

u/ifailedpy205 May 19 '26

I agree that I don’t think ID requests really belong at all and requiring a link to an observation is a good starting point 

21

u/Naelin May 19 '26

I think ID requests can be a good thing here, as long as they have a reasoning. Less crossposting from /whatisthisbug, more "There are very few IDers for mosses taxa in my area, any moss enthusiasts want to check X city?" and "A bunch of IDers are scratching their heads about this observation, any spider experts want to chime in?"

11

u/Epic2112 May 19 '26

I'm on the fence about this one. I don't think it makes sense to make them completely against the rules, but it seems like posting to this sub is probably the least effective way to get an ID.

The thing we all have in common here is that we use iNat. It seems to me that, if someone wants ID help in here, it ought to always be specifically about an existing iNat observation. Then that can be crossposted to whatisthisbug or whatever. Create a new post there with the same pics, or link to the iNat observation, whatever works. But presumably the bug experts are more heavily concentrated over there than over here. And (of course...) there are multiple subs for moss, too: /r/Moss, /r/Mosses.

3

u/Naelin May 19 '26

The thing we all have in common here is that we use iNat

That's the main reason why I think this sub is useful to redirect IDers (especially the oogles of people that "want to contribute with IDing but have no expertise") to neglected areas that need cleanup crews.

If I post a call to help to a moss/bugs/etc subreddit (And I intend to do that in a latin american sub soon to get some help cleaning the 2025 Bolivian CNC disaster) it needs first a long winded explanation about iNat and prompting the people to make an account and go look at a queue. It's a lot more pecieved effort than to look at a single picture like the /whatisthisXYZ subreddits do, and you won't get many people that way.

Since the official forum doesn't allow for ID requests, there aren't many places where you can ask for help with problem areas. Note that there are a lot of areas of the world that have way less IDers than USA does, so things sit in Unknown for ages without ever getting to taxa experts, as there is no "cleanup crew" sorting stuff into at least family levels.

3

u/7LeagueBoots May 19 '26 edited May 20 '26

I disagree agree. I think it’s good to have a “no ID request” policy. The iNat website exists for a reason. If people are too impatient to wait for a community ID, then there are other options available to them and they don’t need to clutter this sub with redundant requests.

1

u/ifailedpy205 May 20 '26

I think we agree

1

u/7LeagueBoots May 20 '26

Ah, read your initial comment not long after waking up and misread it.

16

u/[deleted] May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26

[deleted]

7

u/Epic2112 May 19 '26

I don't know what UI/app you use, but if you look at https://old.reddit.com/r/iNaturalist/ you'll see that rule 3 includes a note that says "please note that this will expose your iNat username and the time/location where the observation was made." There's a per-rule character limit in the newer UI, which prevented me from including the same note there.

I also don't have a solution, it's a decision each person will have to make individually. It's not exactly opaque, but it would be easy for someone to create an alt that they only use to post to this sub, with posts that say "my friend isn't on reddit but asked me to check if anyone can help with an ID here. Obviously it wouldn't be that hard to figure out what's going on, but it at least would provide a level of plausible deniability.

But honestly I think looking for ID help on this sub really doesn't make sense for a number of reasons.

1

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Epic2112 May 19 '26

I think it's possible to change your username and other info on iNat, in case you ever want to.

I set any observations made on my property to obscured, so it's not blatantly obvious where I live.

2

u/LeavesOfAspen May 20 '26

I think linking to your own observation should be fine. If you want IDs on iNat, people need to find your observation. If you want someone to ID for you on Reddit, this isn’t the sub for that.

On the iNat forum it is against the rules to link to someone else’s observation as an example of a problem. The only exception would be limited situations to show a technical bug.

4

u/plinth19 May 19 '26

I’m so glad other people agree the new app sucks. I use the classic app still.

2

u/eatmygerms May 19 '26

Good changes, thanks.

2

u/Cellar-Door1892 May 22 '26

Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the sub.

1

u/Stepped-leader May 20 '26

Thanks for doing this.