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It seems to me that I have couple proposals about Diptera.info.
1.Somebody asks, for example, ?Is it Chironomidae?? Nobody answer, as it is realy Chironomidae and nobody knows more.
May be write some rules as:
?If dipterists keep silence ? than they agree with your identification or at least your ID may be correct as well.?
2. If in new thread appears several question (=promptings) as:
Place
Date
Size
Any other information which may be usuful
Author can fill this form or erase it. But this may:
2.1. helps to ID.
2.2. change thread into scientific observation.
Nikita

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Hello,

I would add yet another proposal.

When the identification seems certain, it would be good to put the taxon in the thread title. This way, it is easier to find the thread again later on.

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I don't think this is a good idea. While it is often the case, sometimes a thread is ignored or lost for other reasons and then the result will be total confusion.



A template like this could be a good idea for the 'What's this?' areas.

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To Kahis:
May be like this: "If dipterists keep silence ? than they agree with your identification or at least your ID may be correct as well. Of course it may also mean that expert who can correct your ID hasn't seen your thread or do not visit this forum at all.?
To Pierre:
I aggree. Expert for Sciomyzidae family, for example, which visit forum once a month can not look all threads for month. His only way - search by keyword "sciomyzidae". So, name of family make check of thread by expert more probable.
Nikita

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I actually think the opposite is normally true for utem 1 - if I know what the ID is then I usually answer but if I don't know or don't want to commit then I move onto the next thread. :)

I like the idea of item 2 though - it can help immensely if the poster gives the place and date of capture and any other information, like size if this isn't clear. But I'm not sure it would be easy to modify the PHP code to include questions on just selected forums. ;)

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I like Pierre's idea - I would certainly use it, but perhaps it is too much work for Paul. The poster could do it themselves, but would they always get around to it?

The template questions are already covered in the FAQs section on forums and posting. I think perhaps the answer is some way of highlighting this section so that new and infrequent users read it. Perhaps Paul and other experts could paste the link in to any thread where they have to ask those questions so that all readers are reminded periodically?

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For Nikita's 1. I'd say: No answer is no confirmation. Even when I can do nothing more than confirm the family ID when requested, I will do so. If there is a request to confirm if some fly is an anthomyiid, then in most cases I will remain silent (as many other) because I just do not know. The lack of an answer means a) that the (or a) specialist has not yet seen it; b) people who have seen it can not make a better ID (they may just not have arguments to say something contrary); c) the thread was moved down the panel too fast and too many people miss it. In the latter case, the poster should bump it after one or two weeks. In the first two cases, no-one has come up with something better, so the ID may be correct after all.

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For the 2: It will require some extensive modding of the site's scripts to get something like a form in new threads in just a few forums. The whole system is based on repeating the same actions for different forums. I may think about the possibilities but will have no time in the near future to execute them.
Posters should read the FAQ about posting (but I know most people will not read them, even I do not always bother to read the instructions on other sites) but even then they will tend to forget.

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For Pierre's idea: Makes sense, though few people seem te realise they can edit their posts. And even if they realise they can edit it, the often forget that the title can be edited too. For browsing the forum by thread it will make it much clearer. I have seen it done on other forums as well. Still, as long as replies include the correct family/species etc., the forum search function will pick them up eventually.