I am sure that I’m overlooking the obvious but I’ve been trying to collate my spider records to send to my VCR. I have set up a filter on the gallery called ‘my spiders’, which works fine. The only problem is that when I want to look again later I cannot figure out where to enter the name of the filter. Help please!
Incidentally, there doesn’t seem to have been an iSpotlight on spiders thus far, or any of the arachnids, as far as I can see.
I use tags all the time - so thought I’d check yours, Maybe your mistake was mySPACEspiders
Try myUNDERSCOREspiders (my_spiders)
Think I may have used ‘myspiders’ already in the ZA community
Yes - see mySpiders will be offered. lower case should work for you
Thanks marlandza, but my issue is slightly different. It offers you the option of naming your filter, so that you can use it for a future search. But, having saved the filter, I cannot see how to apply it. I’m probably overlooking something obvious!
Edit: no sooner had I typed the above than I had the idea of putting ‘filters’ in the search menu - and, after a bit of faffing, I found out the answer. For a small fee…
No, only joking. Should anyone else be as slow as me and need help. What you do is click on your name on the top left-hand corner and then click on the tab that says ‘your iSpot’ then ‘filters’ - and there you are! So easy that a child of five could figure it out, but not me unfortunately!
Thanks - that’s useful - I’d like to DELETE some of my typos.
NOT SO FAST
Fortunately I checked before deleting - not all the tags have been generated by ME.
For the record, your saved filters will appear here:
https://www.ispotnature.org/your-ispot/filters
Thanks Chris - but I checked and found that the title does not reflect the actual tab that I have so hesitant to delete without checking first. At least one wasn’t even mine.
This is an education for me because I’ve never looked into how personal filters are stored.
I’ve found the database table where they’re stored and I can see the filter I just made - called “Birds Oct-Nov 2023” - and I can also see your filter called “my spiders”. I don’t think having a space in the name is a problem.
I think we are crossing wires, here. Marlandza. My posts are nothing to do with tags!
Not really, I search for records that I’ve tagged - many of my observations would be lost when there have been name changes or dictionary updates. The only way to find them is by tagging.
I think the problem arises when there are only two characters followed by a space - the system needs at least three characters - try it.
It just allowed me to save a filter called “F1”. The name shouldn’t make any difference - you could even use the same name that someone else has - its the internal ID number, which is unique, that it uses to look up the filter definition.
Hi, you might be better creating a project to collect spiders and then you would have the option to select your own username. This way the project would only collect your spider observations and you could return to it anytime. I’ve created a project as per my suggestion to let you see how it works: Test | Project | UK and Ireland | iSpot Nature
A named FILTER is by far the best
The trouble is that it creates an iSpot Link like this, which is about 2000 digits long (though shows neatly here.
Try copy.paste into an email!
That of course can be converted to a simple Bitly link like https://bit.ly/3uRiLOi
I am not against Project or personal Test Zones but projects that are simply filters are best kept as a named personal Filter in our own profiles
iSpot is full of surprises. Now that I know where to find my filters, I agree that it’s a briliant tool.
As you say, the URL takes up rather a lot of space!
Is your post above, Derek, implying that you can also use other people’s filters?
Others do use filters but, I suspect, not often and rarely for Community purpose.
But yes you can filter for most things except location. It would be very nice if we could draw a map and ask for all the users, or fish or elephant sightings in- or out-side the map.
One very good reason for having ‘quiet’ project space (off the Home page) is that you can search small or large areas from your own map. You can hide your efforts very quickly afterwards.
I often use the Activity or Explore Community filter to find my own forgotten Observation or to see WHEN I added an agreement to a specific ID.
You can do the same for any user from their Activity Tracker (Filter).
I see YOU have added 171 agreements in the last 4 weeks
And that you Edited this twice in November https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/874271/
.
Someone has written a guide to the use of the Explore Community (Filter)
https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/project/825332/
Maybe he should write a guide to Stalking User-activity
Agree: surely a ‘project’ to collect group of interest PLUS the option to select your own username is the most obvious solution.
I don’t understand why it needs over-complications on iSpot.
I was fascinated by the fact that the gall wasps themselves have parasites. I’ve got about a dozen of the galls in a pot now waiting to see what emerges. There’s one particular spot near me where there are lots of galls. I keep seeing them - but there’s a limit to how many I want in the house (in a pot).
Oh dear, more homework!..
I did a quick test. As far as I can tell, Derek, you only have one observation without an ID… Random testing | Observation | UK and Ireland | iSpot Nature and it’s a rather exceptional one!
But How did you work out that I had added 171 agreements in the last 4 weeks???
It’s good iSpot has a variety of tools to suit different ways of working.
I haven’t gotten to grips with filters and prefer using a project to find information. I can easily access it under ‘my projects’ and edit the filters to collect whatever I’m interested in at the time.
.
I’ll delete the demonstration project - Test Project for Surreybirder, on Friday.
Think of it this way: Projects take Filters one step further by adding areas.
Did you know that there is to be a Christmas quiz this year - 23 - 26 Dec?
There will be some questions about Filtering
VERY few people know about iSpot’s Christmas Show, so it MIGHT be a waste of time and effort
