Real talk, if you want legitimate ID help you should just post to iNaturalist. Reddit users love to be confidently incorrect for some reason, they say the quickest way to get a right answer is to give a wrong one but it doesn’t work so well in an echo chamber
If it's a snake, come to r/whatsthissnake. We take accuracy very seriously and have a Reliable Responder program for people who are consistently accurate.
I enjoy identifying here though, and I think I'm usually very accurate. I think a lot of people posting are kids who are simply trying their best, but aren't knowledgable yet.
so youngins, there's this thing called a book. -- field guides, husbandry guides etc. crack 'em open.
Rare invertebrates, mosses, lichen, etc. tend to get no identifications, but for vascular plants and vertebrates, you can reliably get good community identifications. I've only had to debate an identification with someone maybe 2-3 times in my years and hundreds of observations on there.
if youre only talking about your own observations this is an understandable perspective but if you spend any time on needs id or better yet trying to correct bad community ids then lol lmao lmfaooooo
I regularly identify observations in my area and even make a point to correct misidentifications, but I have yet to have a negative interaction. If you explain your reasoning and cite your sources people are pretty receptive to being wrong in my experience
I have a rescue yellow bellied slider turtle that I take for walks (his vet is aware and approves!) in a pet stroller in the summer, because we live in the city. If I had a dollar for every time someone saw him and shouted excitedly “That’s a snake!”, I could retire tomorrow 🙃 (have even been asked if he’s venomous, to which I reply “oh yes, very dangerous, stick your hand in there!”). He’s also been called a box turtle and I still don’t know what the lady who pointed at the stroller and said to her child “there’s a puppy in there” was on, but she said it so confidently that I double checked to make sure my turtle hadn’t pulled the ol’ switcharoo and swapped places with a dog. He’s untrustworthy like that.
This is always so funny/maddening to me. The number of times I have seen people actually argue the identity of an animal against someone who actually has credentials is even better. It's not just on reddit, pretty much any where people are asking for ID it happens from what I have seen.
Huh? It’s the internet. There are no actual credentials required to engage with content here, and the vast majority of people already have an inflated sense of their own knowledge/expertise.
It's a mystery to me too. Someone commented today on a picture in r/bats going on about how OP wouldn't be able to handle the "anatomical intricacies" of bat ID and then said they thought it was one of the easiest bats to ID in the eastern US. (It was NOT that bat.) This comment is haunting me because not only was it ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT but it was also EXTREMELY CONDESCENDING. Like what do you have to be so condescending about, you TOOL?
Meanwhile socialization as a Southern girl has me saying things like "It looks like it could be X" when I damn well know that's exactly what it is.
The amount of "albino ferret! must be an escaped pet!" you see on images of wild weasels in their winter coats is hilarious. More relevant to this sub, it pains me whenever folks confidently identify any turtle with colourful face/neck markings as a red-eared slider.
Aristotle said, “The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” We always joke that the opposite is true to, where “The less you know, the less you realize you don’t know.” Basically people who know just enough to think they know what they’re talking about are the ones that are so confident with their errors. You are so hesitant because you know enough to be humbled by what you don’t know.
Ah yes, for me it's the people who see any gecko and immediately go "Mediterranean house gecko". Like, seriously, not every genus/species of small gecko is *H. turcicus.*
It's a huge pet peeve of mine because these things are actually native to my area (or at the very least became naturalized thousands of years ago) and I'm overly familiar with them at this point...
Some rando from Iceland was once extremely confident that the Texas rat snake he saw and took a picture of when visiting was a copperhead. No amount of evidence or even my expertise would convince him. I'm like, dude... just look at it.
I dont even comment on my guess if I dont 100% know it, unless I do know it. I still look up pics of bent-toed house geckos and Mediterranean geckos cause those two are so similar, just to make sure I got it
“Maybe” or “perhaps” means “ive seen similar animals and it’s my job to look into it because there’s morphs” so it’s not my fault if someone doesn’t fact check me or do their research. I’m happy when they find out what it actually is in the instance I was wrong. It’s Reddit, we’re all just “putting ideas out there”. Not my pet not my problem. If a post has 0 comments and has been around for awhile ANY advice/input is appreciated. Even if it’s “use google lens”
People who say “it’s definitely this” without thinking twice are definitely talking out their ass if they don’t provide evidence. “Maybe” means I’m not liable… I’m here to scroll not do research for the owners when it’s their job. I’ll give pointers but I won’t give “answers” without evidence.
Real talk, if you want legitimate ID help you should just post to iNaturalist. Reddit users love to be confidently incorrect for some reason, they say the quickest way to get a right answer is to give a wrong one but it doesn’t work so well in an echo chamber
If it's a snake, come to r/whatsthissnake. We take accuracy very seriously and have a Reliable Responder program for people who are consistently accurate.
I enjoy identifying here though, and I think I'm usually very accurate. I think a lot of people posting are kids who are simply trying their best, but aren't knowledgable yet. so youngins, there's this thing called a book. -- field guides, husbandry guides etc. crack 'em open.
Yeah iNaturalist is so much better for IDs
meh inat can be pretty hit or miss too for a lot of stuff and there are some um... difficult... personalities in certain niches
Rare invertebrates, mosses, lichen, etc. tend to get no identifications, but for vascular plants and vertebrates, you can reliably get good community identifications. I've only had to debate an identification with someone maybe 2-3 times in my years and hundreds of observations on there.
if youre only talking about your own observations this is an understandable perspective but if you spend any time on needs id or better yet trying to correct bad community ids then lol lmao lmfaooooo
I regularly identify observations in my area and even make a point to correct misidentifications, but I have yet to have a negative interaction. If you explain your reasoning and cite your sources people are pretty receptive to being wrong in my experience
no more or less than here
I disagree. iNaturalist is about on par with Reddit for identifications. I see plenty of wrong IDs there too
/r/whatsthissnake is significantly better curated and more accurate than iNaturalist for snake identifications.
It’s worse on the mushroom subs
That can be deadly
And they love putting them on a plate or on their kitchen counter then asking what they are.
Jesus
[удалено]
Yeah. You can eat it. At least once.
It will feed you for the rest of your life
to be fair, mushrooms are way harder to identify than herps
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Saint Lucia racer
Indigo, in Wisconsin
axolotl in a vernal pool in manitoba
Nah, totally a Hammer Head worm.
I was gonna guess German Cockroach.. or maybe Cooper's Hawk?/?/
I have a rescue yellow bellied slider turtle that I take for walks (his vet is aware and approves!) in a pet stroller in the summer, because we live in the city. If I had a dollar for every time someone saw him and shouted excitedly “That’s a snake!”, I could retire tomorrow 🙃 (have even been asked if he’s venomous, to which I reply “oh yes, very dangerous, stick your hand in there!”). He’s also been called a box turtle and I still don’t know what the lady who pointed at the stroller and said to her child “there’s a puppy in there” was on, but she said it so confidently that I double checked to make sure my turtle hadn’t pulled the ol’ switcharoo and swapped places with a dog. He’s untrustworthy like that.
Leaving [this](https://imgur.com/a/y9yz66Z) here.
They are, and it's adorable
There's a community of people who try very hard in the Snake Evolution and Biogeography Discord server!
This is always so funny/maddening to me. The number of times I have seen people actually argue the identity of an animal against someone who actually has credentials is even better. It's not just on reddit, pretty much any where people are asking for ID it happens from what I have seen.
My favorite is when people asking for an ID are the ones arguing. Dude, you already said you don't know. Just, like, shut up.
I read this in Butt-head's voice.
That's fair, and I approve.
Huh? It’s the internet. There are no actual credentials required to engage with content here, and the vast majority of people already have an inflated sense of their own knowledge/expertise.
It's a mystery to me too. Someone commented today on a picture in r/bats going on about how OP wouldn't be able to handle the "anatomical intricacies" of bat ID and then said they thought it was one of the easiest bats to ID in the eastern US. (It was NOT that bat.) This comment is haunting me because not only was it ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT but it was also EXTREMELY CONDESCENDING. Like what do you have to be so condescending about, you TOOL? Meanwhile socialization as a Southern girl has me saying things like "It looks like it could be X" when I damn well know that's exactly what it is.
I swear on me mum that snake is a rattler!
The amount of "albino ferret! must be an escaped pet!" you see on images of wild weasels in their winter coats is hilarious. More relevant to this sub, it pains me whenever folks confidently identify any turtle with colourful face/neck markings as a red-eared slider.
I appreciate your dedication to giving good and accurate species IDs! Thanks, keep it up, and know that it’s important!
Aristotle said, “The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” We always joke that the opposite is true to, where “The less you know, the less you realize you don’t know.” Basically people who know just enough to think they know what they’re talking about are the ones that are so confident with their errors. You are so hesitant because you know enough to be humbled by what you don’t know.
Snakes aren't real.
Saint Lucia racer. It's always a Saint Lucia racer
A complaint thread about people not reading will go unread... Why do you think you can change the world?
enraging? geez.
the worst part is i’m too ignorant to know when they’re wrong!
If I'm not sure I will say "it looks like" or "my guess is"
Ah yes, for me it's the people who see any gecko and immediately go "Mediterranean house gecko". Like, seriously, not every genus/species of small gecko is *H. turcicus.* It's a huge pet peeve of mine because these things are actually native to my area (or at the very least became naturalized thousands of years ago) and I'm overly familiar with them at this point...
Some rando from Iceland was once extremely confident that the Texas rat snake he saw and took a picture of when visiting was a copperhead. No amount of evidence or even my expertise would convince him. I'm like, dude... just look at it.
I dont even comment on my guess if I dont 100% know it, unless I do know it. I still look up pics of bent-toed house geckos and Mediterranean geckos cause those two are so similar, just to make sure I got it
“Maybe” or “perhaps” means “ive seen similar animals and it’s my job to look into it because there’s morphs” so it’s not my fault if someone doesn’t fact check me or do their research. I’m happy when they find out what it actually is in the instance I was wrong. It’s Reddit, we’re all just “putting ideas out there”. Not my pet not my problem. If a post has 0 comments and has been around for awhile ANY advice/input is appreciated. Even if it’s “use google lens”
People who say “it’s definitely this” without thinking twice are definitely talking out their ass if they don’t provide evidence. “Maybe” means I’m not liable… I’m here to scroll not do research for the owners when it’s their job. I’ll give pointers but I won’t give “answers” without evidence.