You may find this list of do's and don'ts helpful in working with the BugGuide website and community.
- Do conduct yourself in a courteous, mature, and respectful manner.
- Do remember that this is a family friendly site and that people of all ages visit.
- Do read over the help pages.
- Do use this site to try to identify your specimens before submitting them to ID Request.
- Do consider turning on 'auto subscribe' on your account page.
- Do provide a full name on your account page so your copyright reflects your name instead of your handle.
- Do consider providing other details on your account page, especially if it will help us recognize you as an expert.
- Do crop your image to emphasize the bug so we can make out details.
- Do provide accurate image details, especially location, date and size, to enhance the value of our virtual collection.
- Do consider measuring your specimen. Size estimates are easily exagerated.
- Do manage your own 'ID Request' submissions by moving them to frass or to an appropriate spot in the guide.
- Do indicate how you arrived at an identification.
- Do link images of the same specimen (individual) or group of specimens.
- Do submit images in jpeg format, preferably 560 pixels on the longest side (if you submit a larger image it will be resized to 560 pixels)
- Don't submit images that were taken outside of the United States or Canada.
- Don't delete and resubmit the same image, even a cropped version. Simply edit the original one.
- Don't post more than three 'ID Requests' per day. Otherwise we get overwhelmed and things get overlooked.
- Don't post mutilated bugs. It offends some of us and makes identification difficult.
- Don't spend all your time here posting photos without taking time to help others by offering encouragement, pointing them in the direction of an identification, or helping to organize the guide.
- Don't link images of different specimens. Instead use the thumb markup.
- Don't delete your image after comments have been made. We'd rather you move it to frass and give us a chance to decide whether or not it would be a useful addition to the guide.
- Don't submit multiple images of the same specimen that don't add any value to the images already submitted.
- Don't submit images with decorations such as borders or with text other than your copyright notice.
- Don't submit images that are not your own unless you have permission from the copyright holder.
- Don't use a "signature" in your comments (like "Joe for President" or "Click here for my DIY flooring plans").
Contributed by
John VanDyk on 14 April, 2009 - 11:18am
Last updated 20 July, 2010 - 8:34am