Re: Moderator input poll, your thoughts

Hi-

I hate to point this out but since a certain troublemaker was removed ( not before time) it's been fairly quiet apart from the spammer/flamer incident recently.

Mrs T's quizzes are left field :)

S

whoami feature is Birdwatch Irelands quiz. Every day they put up a photo which has been taken at an odd angle, or cropped or whatever to make identification harder, and then folk try to identify it. On Fridays they put up a really difficult one and call it a headbanger. Its good fun and really helps learning. At least I think it does.

Angela Needham

whoami feature is Birdwatch Irelands quiz. Every day they put up a photo which has been taken at an odd angle, or cropped or whatever to make identification harder, and then folk try to identify it. On Fridays they put up a really difficult one and call it a headbanger. Its good fun and really helps learning. At least I think it does.

Angela, wait till you encounter Seymours quiz's.  They are usually under the 'Identify' forum or Tea Rooms and some here get them easily, some of us make wild lucky guesses or not so lucky wild guesses and I for one feel ridiculously pleased if I get one right or come close to the answer, and Mrs T is seriously stretching our brains at the moment with her id quiz.

Caroline in Jersey

Hi-

most magazines have at some time run a mystery photo quiz ( I won one of them) and they are good fun and hopefully a teaching aid- that's why I do them.

S

Hi,

I think moderators do ok on here. Not the format I'd have chosen, but not their fault.

One thing I've noticed is 'inconsistency' in 'verified answers'. It's obviously fair enough/right to leave quizzes to poster to close off at their leisure, and there are quite a significant number of 'please i.d. this' posts that are inconclusive, or 'too dangerous' or high risk for RSPB reps to officially verify from one or two photos. But, there are a high number of open goals that never get closed. Some seemingly less straight forward ones are closed/verified, but clear photos of cormorants and corn buntings, for example, aren't.

I don't want to put moderators in a position where they end up getting corrected due to photos not being straight forward (everyone makes mistakes), and it's subjective as to whether something is obvious or not, but I have confidence in the mods knowing many of the 'outstanding identify this' i.d's.

Rob

Some good and useful feedback there Robbo, I shall make sure we look into that a bit more!

Claire

P.S - I do hope seymouraves comment about my quizzes being 'left field' was a compliment :)

Hi Robbo,

Surely it is down to the person who posted the ID request to "close it off", not the moderators? I don't see this as a Moderator's job, personally.

I think the verifying an answer system is little understood by many people, so they either use it wrongly, or not at all.

Hi Linda,

I agree and in an ideal World, that's how it'd work. In an ideal World, those people who post 'identify this' requests, come back later and thank people for responding, but although you always do,  that's not always happening with others.

I also agree with your second paragraph, but that is one of the reasons why it'd, imo, be useful for mods to do the verifying. If those not 'closing off' their own posts then get auto mailed because someone else has closed their post off, it may help those who don't use it, to start using it.

There've also been a few posts (though not many recently) where people dream they'd seen something other than the species they've photo'd! Having RSPB 'confirm' an answer would add a bit more validity to correct i.d's that aren't being accepted.

Rob

Sorry for being a pain, but how do you close a post off.

I've posted to Identify This, so have never closed a post off, although I always post my thanks.

Viv.

Hi Viv,

On the forums where you can ask questions, such as ID this, next to each reply there is a little box that says something like - is this the right answer. You pick the answer you like best, or more than one if you wish, and tick that box.

Thanks Linda.Much appreciated.

Viv.