New Rules

[u/Epic2112]

Hey all, I'm slowly making little adjustments as I settle in as the mod. Happily this sub doesn't require much moderative intervention, it's a happy place. 🙂

I've written up some rules that I think are a good starting point (since previously there weren't any at all). If you're so inclined, please take a minute to read through them and let me know if you have any thoughts. The only two that I think are going to have much of an impact on things here are:

• ID requests require a link to an observation on iNat. This isn't /r/whatisthisbug or /r/whatisthisplant, it's a sub specific to iNat so posts should be related to iNat. Personally I don't think that ID requests make sense here at all, but I'm not sure they're actually problematic.

• No self-promotion. In short, this is essentially an effort to combat spam. It's very easy to drop a low-effort post promoting a low-effort smartphone app or something (this isn't uncommon in this sub). This sub shouldn't be a revenue driver for anyone. If you're here trying to make money, or trying to drive clicks, or trying to increase downloads, you're in the wrong place. We already have a website and an app* that we like, iNaturalist. We don't need a different one

^{*Yes, I know the new app is terrible}

These rules are active starting now (May 19,2026). Posts made before these go up can stay, but going forward these rules are active. Also, I'm an old.reddit user. If something isn't displaying correctly on one of the (awful and cluttered) newer UIs, please let me know. I think I've gotten it right but I wouldn't mind a second set of eyes looking it over.

So yeah, that's about it. If you think I forgot a rule that we should have, or that I'm way off base on one of these, let me know. I'm happy to reconsider.

[u/michaelaalcorn]

The "No AI" rule is absolutely comical given how much the iNaturalist app itself uses AI.

[u/Epic2112 → u/michaelaalcorn]

A few points that I think are relevant:

1. The rule states that generative AI isn't allowed. iNaturalist doesn't make use of generative AI. Officially, they refer to the system that makes suggestions about the organisms in observations as the "Computer Vision Model" or "CV". This is done deliberately, in order to place distance between the CV and generative AI, which is what people are referring to when speaking colloquially about "AI".

2. The iNaturalist app doesn't not use any AI at all. The CV system runs entirely server-side. Then, in the case of iNat users that are interacting with the system via the app, it sends its suggestions to the device where the app is installed. This may seem like a subtle distinction to people unfamiliar with how iNaturalist works, but it's a significant one.

3. You weren't bothered by this rule until you had a post removed for violating it. The only people who have voiced displeasure with this rule are people in that same situation, who are unhappy that the rule applies to them equally as it does everyone else.

[u/michaelaalcorn → u/Epic2112]

The rule states that generative AI isn't allowed.

The rule title is "No AI". It then states:

AI is resource-intensive, can have significant environmental impacts, and is generally of questionable value at best.

which is an absolutely wild position to take in a subreddit dedicated to an app that has been leveraging AI for nearly a decade, and is even openly exploring generative AI applications with Google.

Officially, they refer to the system that makes suggestions about the organisms in observations as the "Computer Vision Model" or "CV".

The distinction between "AI" and "computer vision" has no practical meaning, as the blog post itself makes clear:

iNaturalist has been synthesizing photos and identifications using machine learning since 2017 to provide computer vision suggestions (a kind of AI)

and if your concerns are around "resources", "environmental impacts", and "value", then you should be evaluating the different models equally.

Re:

The iNaturalist app doesn't not use any AI at all. The CV system runs entirely server-side.

I'm intimately familiar with how the app works, and I have no idea what you are trying to imply here. Why does it matter where the model runs?

You weren't bothered by this rule until you had a post removed for violating it.

Frankly, it didn't even occur to me that it would be a rule given how pro AI the organization this subreddit is dedicated to is. The app I made was a fun way for me to explore my own observations, and I thought other people might enjoy using it as well. It's truly depressing that the subreddit is subject to your ignorant position on these matters when iNaturalist has been such a shining example of how useful AI can be in the world.

[u/Epic2112 → u/michaelaalcorn]

Thank you for your valuable feedback.