How does the community settle on a name?

Like iNaturalist, AquaWiki leaves the final name of an observation to community consensus, rather than to the uploader alone. This article explains how the rule works. (Editorial sample article; admins can edit or delete it.)

One vote each, latest one counts

Each identifier keeps only their latest identification on an observation. If you change your mind, just submit again and your earlier ID is replaced.

More than two-thirds wins

The system checks every taxon that has been suggested (family, genus, species) and counts who supports it and who explicitly disagrees:

• Supports: the ID is this taxon or a finer taxon inside it.
• Disagrees: the ID sits on a different branch.
• Someone who identified only to a coarser rank neither supports nor disagrees.

The finest taxon with at least 2 supporters and more than two-thirds agreement becomes the community ID. For example, if two people say Yesso scallop and one says only Pectinidae, the community ID is Yesso scallop; if one says Yesso scallop and one says bay scallop, it can only settle at Pectinidae.

What research grade means

An observation is research grade when its community ID is at species level, it has a photo, a date and a place, and its origin is wild. It can then be used as species distribution data.

Farmed, market and specimen observations identified to species are marked "Verified · not wild" and are left out of wild distribution counts.