Snapshot Serengeti Talk

hashtags

  • mvanboroosie by mvanboroosie

    I'm not a techie type, so I'm not sure when or if I should use hashtags.

    Posted

  • haboutaj by haboutaj

    Yes, I was wondering the same thing. Is it useful to use hashtags in our comments?

    Posted

  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    I'm not a techie either, but I gather that hashtags are useful for a quick search - so if you click on #lion you have instant access to > 1800 photos that have been given that tag (whether or not they really show a lion). I think the caption above the Comment box is misleading, where it says "Say something, or mark with a #hashtag". This encourages people to use # indiscriminately, so we get lots of dumb tags like #wildguess or #ihaventaclue or #wtf, but these are not going to be useful to anyone so why bother?

    We the moderators, and hopefully the scientists too, prefer if you limit the use of hashtags just to names of animals whose ID is certain, and to a few other categories that researchers may want to search for - e.g. kill, interaction, fire, slate, selfie, dailyzoo. If you tag an animal name, check that it is spelled correctly. You have the list of names on your classification page. A search for #wildebeest will not catch #wilderbeest or #wildebeast

    We also appreciate if you can delete incorrect hashtags from your posts - only you can do that. For example, if you ask the question "is this a #lion?" we'd prefer you not to use the #, because if you're asking a question you aren't sure. When Mods reply "no, it's a #warthog" it means we are confident that it is a warthog and not a lion. However, the picture will continue to show up in searches for both #warthog and #lion unless you delete the # from #lion.

    @tillydad or scientists, anything to add or correct?

    Posted

  • Babyballerina by Babyballerina

    How do the animals take a selfie? Or are they all selfies? What are the slate and dailyzoo tags for? I've just been tagging the nicest and clearest pictures (especially eland because David said he doesn't see them much)

    Posted

  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    Selfies: A while ago, Zooniverse requested a selection of the best animal portraits, of anything, close to camera as if it were taking a selfie. Nat Geo is producing a picture book of these, I think.

    Slate: Sometimes you'll see a photo of a slate or CD case with white writing on it. This identifies the camera and the date and time that the current memory card was put in.

    Dailyzoo: Zooniverse displays a daily selection of interesting or beautiful photos from the various projects. This hashtag gives them a selection to choose from.

    Eland: You don't have to tag them for me, though it's always nice to see them!

    Posted

  • Babyballerina by Babyballerina

    Okay. Thank you. I like eland too.

    Posted

  • AowlanCrystal by AowlanCrystal moderator

    I'd say David, you have pretty much covered it.

    I agree the caption "Say something, or mark with a #hashtag" is encouraging uses of hashtags where none are needed. I note though on some social media, some people needlessly hashtag lots of words, sometimes seems, as if it's to emphasize that word, eg: "hashtag WOW", "OMG", instead of using a "!".

    Editing posts: I don't know if anyone else has had problem, I often can't edit a post once posted (when commenting under a classified photo), it will not update, when you click to do so. If like me, you find 'edit' is not updating, here's a solution...
    First: 'highlight' all your original text, then select 'copy' text, 'paste' into new message box, don't forget to correct the post, click to post new, corrected post and then don't forget to 'Delete' the original post with hashtag error/spelling mistake.

    other hashtags: might be useful for narrowing a search further, are things like: "young", maybe "calf", "foal", "cub", "chick" etc.., (if know correct term for species), also "kill" (when a predator animal is making/has made a kill), ie the great cheetah making a kill, capture this season! Some seasons back, a scientist/Moderator asked for any animal appearing to be itching/scratching itself to be hashtagged "#Scratching", also "#Dustdevil", those small swirling, columns of dust, like tiny hurricanes/tornado's. Sometimes captured on camera traps are, humans herding their Cattle through the area, these were being hashtagged "Cattle" (search for cattle, to see images. Someone can help my memory here, I think they were being classified under human, as well as adding in comments #Cattle?

    If find photo/capture of someone, whose been 'poaching', that needs reporting, maybe in a post with link to image/sequence and also direct to a scientist (or one of the more regularly online Moderators).
    x

    Posted

  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator in response to AowlanCrystal's comment.

    Adding to that...I have never seen a photo of a poacher on SSS, and I would urge volunteers to be very cautious of assuming - as I've seen some people do - that a person captured by the camera , perhaps holding a sinister looking weapon such as a grass slasher, is up to no good. The dedicated Tanzanian project staff drive many difficult miles to download the photos that we all enjoy so much, and try to cut the grass around the cameras to reduce the "nothing here" shots caused by moving grass. So, I wouldn't even suspect someone of poaching unless they are carrying an obvious animal part or a blood-soaked sack! 😃

    Posted