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Problem with moths.

With moths we seem to have a problem that I have not encountered when asking for comments/IDs for other bugs. It appears that almost all posts submitted recently for ID help to Moths and ID-Request have remained without a suggestion from an Editor. Contributors, therefore, have to rely on their own judgment, right or wrong, or seek advice elsewhere. Editors probably are frustrated into inaction by the sheer number of submissions. I was fortunate to have joined BugGuide in early 2012 when I was able to learn much of what I rely on today from the Editors active at that time. Today's newcomers should be so lucky!
What I learned is not enough qualify me to be an editor, but I try to help others when I can, and sometimes I am wrong. Some others do the same. But the combined knowledge of all the Contributors would cover a lot of species and might help us out of the dilemma if applied to the backlog. Unfortunately, there seems to be no way of setting a broad-based effort in motion.

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I may be able to help with putting ID Request moths into the family-level pages in the guide and with IDing some of the more common mid-Atlantic moths. Want to train a new editor?

 
Granted
He granted me editor status. I have moved a few leps from ID Request to either Moths or to a family page.

I'm going to review the Moth and Editor forums before doing much more. Hopefully a few initial questions are answered there, such as:
- How do I move and comment in the same action? Like http://bugguide.net/node/view/956651 .
- How do I decide whether to keep or frass an image?
- If a photo has two species interacting (e.g., spider grabs butterfly), and one has been IDed, should I move it to a taxon for the 2nd species, or request an independent submission for the second species?

 
some answers
Move first and then 'edit' the automatic comment to add additional thoughts.
Keep or frass is always tough. If the image is small or out of focus, we would say frass, though some folks would argue to save images from states that are not yet represented on our maps. Our feeling is that if you want to claim a datapoint you need to take a good picture, but that viewpoint is not unanimous here. You'll have to work out your own comfort range when it comes to frass.
Usually when two species are in an image, it is clear which species is best represented or which species the contributor wants ID'd. We would give preference to that species.
Hope this helps.
and Congratulations!

 
Congratulations!
In case you don't find all of the answers you're looking for, let me toss out a few.

Moving and commenting is a two-step process. Tag and move the image, and then edit the "move" comment that the system automatically generates.

When to frass? That's a real minefield, and you may want to look through the forums for previous discussions. In general, though, keep images that add value to the Guide, and frass those that don't. Consider image quality, range/season info (records in new places or at new times), and how many images of the critter we already have. And realize that your decisions may not please everyone. :)

Images with two species might be handled in either of the ways you suggest, depending upon the species involved and the quality of the image.

If you have additional questions, just ask!

 
Write to John VanDyk
There is an ISU link at the bottom of this page. That would be great!

Yes, it would help if everyone who knew some of the moths
would move the ones they know into the guide pages or at least leave comments identifying the moth and asking the contributor to move the image into the guide. It is not unusual, however, for us to get a large buildup of images during the summer when our experts are out doing their own collecting and research. It is more likely that the moths will receive their IDs later in the year when fieldwork slows down.
Moth IDs have always been a problem here. It is just so easy to get images of them. Put up a light and they will come to you to get photographed! So we suffer from an abundance of riches. Many wonderful images, and great experts too! But always not quite enough of the latter. Hopefully, you will see some improvement later in the year.

 
Posting Moths
I had a photograph of a moth that I recognized, but something would not allow me to submit it to the species page. I filled out the information and clicked on Submit and it went back to preview and the Submit link never reappeared. Did I do something wrong? This same thing has happened to me before. Is my computer too old? I have no problems submitting to ID Request. Thanks, Katy

 
Image too big or not specified?
Those are the two cases that I encounter most often. It could also happen if there is another problem with the submitted info (like forgetting to provide the observation date).

 
Can't Post
I am pretty careful and I don't think I have omitted anything when I have had the problem. I have only had those problems when I try to post on the species site. I will try next time I know genus or species and see if it happens again. I will report back after that. Thanks, Katy

 
There should be a message embedded
in the submission page when it sends you to preview. Look carefully at the form when this happens again.

Two other possible causes are:
an image that is not a .jpg
or not checking either the adult or immature fields.
If you submit to the Lepidoptera section of the guide, you are required to state whether you are submitting an image of an adult or an immature. If you are submitting a moth, just click on 'adult'

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