I am confused

I had several pictures of bugs that I was interested in finding out more about which is what brought me to this site. I posted the pics and relevant information but when I get notification that they have been responded to only one of them was identified. The others were moved from ID Request to a different page and or I was scolded for not putting the date. Well I read in the submittal page to put the date if known and for wild species only. I left it blank as I don’t remember what the date was when I took them but still I was “notified” I need to edit them and put the date. On a few of them I put a size but there was no instructions on what is meant by this question so I was also notified that what I put was wrong. Did anyone bother to look at my account creation date to see that I am new?

I am always curious about different bugs I run into from day to day and I thought this site would be great but honestly some of you guys are not very friendly or helpful. Instead of getting the insects identified I just get a big fat “you’re doing it wrong”. Also, if the photos are moved from the ID request to one of the other many pages without being identified how will people know that is what I am wanting to know?

I was really excited to find this site but if what has happened so far is a reflection on how this site is run I am going to bounce. I know it makes no difference to many of you if I remain or go but I really think if this is an example of how things are done in the normal course of business it is going to hurt this site in the end.

Thanks for listening to my rant and I would like to thank the ONE guy that actually gave me some information on my wolf spider pic.

Contributed by Anubisokc on 2 March, 2020 - 1:01pm

One more comment you may get

will refer to image cropping. Here on BugGuide we like to have pictures that are cropped to a rectangle that is essentially 'just the bug'. Your spider and caterpillar images have a lot of background around the edges that we really don't need to see. Visitors to BugGuide are restricted to a 560 pixel reduction of your images. You, as the contributor, can click on your image and see the full size 1300 pixel image of your caterpillar. The rest of us can't. We see 560 pixels made up mostly of wall. Cropping your images will give us a better view of your insects.

Welcome to BugGuide. Hope you continue to post images of the creatures you find.

… john and jane balaban, 2 March, 2020 - 1:29pm

It is always difficult in communicating

through the written word without voice tone and facial expression. We read the comments you have received and see nothing but simple declarative sentences with no scolding anywhere to be seen. You obviously see it otherwise. We can tell you that BugGuide editors are very busy and do communicate in simple declarative sentences. Please try not to read emotion into those sentences.
Several points for you as a beginner. When an image is moved, you can look at the top of the page and see where it has been moved to or click on Info to see where you are. For example your caterpillar is on the Hyles lineata page. Ryan may not have left a comment, but he has told you exactly what your bug is.
If you don't put in a date, and you don't specifically mention that you don't know what the date is, people will ask for one. We all assume that with today's cameras or phones, you can simply check to see the date. That's not a fair assumption, but one we all make. If you don't know the date or the size, simply put that info in the remarks section.

… john and jane balaban, 2 March, 2020 - 1:21pm

Thanks for the quick response

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate it. It is possible that due to the shortness of the responses I read that as being rude so I apologize if this is the case.

So where the picture is moved is the answer? Am I understanding that correctly?

… Anubisokc, 2 March, 2020 - 1:34pm

Yes, or maybe only a partial answer

One of your spiders was simply moved to spiders where it will be seen by specialists who only look at images of spiders. But it may be that is all you will get for an ID. It depends on the organism and the quality of the image. When your image is moved to a species page, the software will append that species name to your title. See your cat image for example.

… john and jane balaban, 2 March, 2020 - 1:46pm

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