Answering Bird ID Requests on Facebook

I spend more time than I should on bird-related facebook pages. I do so partly because I hope my bird knowledge might at times be vaguely useful, but also because — as a social scientist by profession — I’m weirdly fascinated by the dynamics of such groups. On pretty much all birding facebook groups, people often ask for help identifying bird photos. Recently, however, this has become a source of friction and disagreement. There are two main gripes. On the one hand, some complain that ID requests frequently become overwhelmed by responses that are merely “guesses”, and/or not terribly well informed, meaning straightforward ID requests get unnecessarily waylaid by misleading answers. On the other hand, others frequently complain about “experts”, “know it alls” etc, who stand accused of being, variously, elitist, arrogant and condescending in their dealings with less experienced birders. <a href="https://jmdean1982.medium.com/answering-bird-id-requests-on-facebook-2387660c40fd">Click Here</a>