Adding agreements: a pipe-dream

1

In the observations recently, the perspicacious dejayM pondered on the dearth of agreements, and possible causes.
There was one that I agreed with: the need/importance of being “sure”.
So, thinking about it, I realised that the procedure could be modified so as to provide similar levels of confidence as are offered when adding an identification. Clicking “I agree” could generate a dialogue box with options along these lines:

  • Full agreement (meaning that “I opine that the identification offered is correct in detail” - whether taken to species, genus, or less detailed)
  • Agreed with reservations (inferring “I’m pretty sure it’s the right genus/family, not sure of fine detail”)
  • Agreed with an analytical limitation (such as “I believe that identification cannot be taken this far from a photo”)

This would be accompanied by a “Notes” box, where the rationale could be entered.
Thought would be needed regarding the reporting of he number of agreements given to the identification: would only “full agreements” be counted, or would the lower-confidence ones have a fractional score (the number displayed being shown as an integer, rounded down)?
I realise that this is a “Pipe-dream”: there are more pressing coding problems that still need addressing before such refinements are considered. But it could increase user interaction, which is where iSpot could (and I think should) score over alternative resources.

2

Re.pipe-dreaming
There’s much more to this, but briefly -
Grades of agreement - yes, there are a few to choose from but it must be simple.
Most ‘agreement types’ can be explained in a Comment. The issue there is that people are STILL not reading comments ('specially when adding agreements). I would still like to see a box at the top of each Observation announcing 2 Comments Present.
See Comments flag please
and
Taken for granted?

3

re highlighting that comments are present and avoiding having to apologise: I use either a desktop or an iPad, desktop for preference for typing but am aware that many users are more likely to interact with sites such as this using phones large or small. And that can change the likelihood of seeing comments for which a lengthy scroll may be needed.

4

I keep missing the presence of comments, even though I’m using a 27 inch monitor.

Flagging their presence ought to be a simple change, and a significant improvement to the user interface.

5

A bit ironic really that one of the specifications in the last rewrite was to compress things so that issues like this would not happen, seems that all programmers (except of online shopping sites) like acres of open space to get lost in.

6

“it must be simple”
Agree whole-heartedly: given how many people are being caught out by the existing bear-traps (picking from drop-downs in identifications being the classic).