When someone suggests a different ID for your observation, you can accept it if you agree it’s right. Your observation then changes to the suggested species.
Getting Suggestions
- Suggestions appear in the Activity section of your observation.
- You’ll be emailed about them if you’ve chosen email notifications. See Email Notifications.
- They also appear in your Recent Activity on the website and in the app.
Before You Accept
- Read the suggester’s comment and compare the features they mention with your photos.
- Look at the suggested species page and at confirmed observations of it.
- See what other members say. Others may agree with the suggestion or with your original ID.
Accepting on the Website
- Open your observation and find the suggestion in the Activity section.
- Click Accept This Suggestion.
Accepting in the App
- Open your observation from the Me tab or from a notification.
- Find the suggestion in Activity and tap Accept This Suggestion.
Agreeing with a suggestion on your own observation has the same effect as accepting it. So does editing your observation to a species someone has already suggested.
What Happens When You Accept
- The suggested species becomes your ID, and your vote moves to it. The suggester is told.
- Your original ID stays visible in the activity, crossed through once it’s no longer your ID or the confirmed one, and the activity feed records that you accepted the suggestion.
- Other members’ votes stay where they are. The observation is Confirmed if the suggested species is now clearly ahead of every other ID, so if members have already agreed with it, accepting can confirm it. If your old ID is still clearly ahead, the observation stays confirmed as that. Otherwise it is Unconfirmed until one ID is clearly ahead. See How the ID System Works.
- Other members can now agree with the new ID.
If You Disagree
You don’t have to accept a suggestion. On the website you can leave a comment on your own observation to explain your reasoning, or ask for more detail. Other members may agree with your original ID.
Note: Changing your ID after good feedback is good scientific practice, not a mistake. Everyone learns this way.