When you are signed in to your Calflora account, you can comment on any observation record. To do so, go to the Observation Detail page for that record, and open COMMENTS and CORRECTIONS. For instance, see this record of Eriodictyon californicum.

If anyone else has commented on the record, you will see their comments on this page. Press ADD A COMMENT to add your own comment. You can edit or delete any of your comments at any time.

If you think the identification of the plant is questionable, check Identification of the plant as stated is questionable
and explain why, and/or offer an alternate identification.

If you do offer an alternate plant name, also check This comment includes a suggested plant identification.

If you think the location of the plant is questionable, check Location of the plant as stated is questionable
and explain why.

If you suspect that the plant is not wild, check This plant may be cultivated, not wild.

This section describes a system of processing comments and corrections implemented in November, 2020.

If you have questioned some aspect of the record in your comment by checking any of the checkboxes listed above, the owner of that record will likely be notified by email. Whenever they use Calflora, they will also be notified by a notification (in the upper right corner of the page).

In response to the email or the notification, hopefully the owner will view the record on the Observation Detail page, and read your comment. Once they have read your comment, they should acknowledge it by checking Mark this comment as resolved.

If your comment suggests a different plant identification, for instance, the owner could also decide to take your advice, edit the record, and change the plant name.

If you have questioned some aspect of the record in your comment, and the owner of the record does not acknowledge it for 7 days, then the record will be automatically flagged as questionable, which simply means that it will not appear in default search results.

If a record owner wants to take the questionable flag off of their record, they can either

1. mark the comment as resolved, or
2. edit the record with Plant Observation Entry and save it.

To date some contributors have largely ignored comments on their records, even those that question the identification of the plant. The point of this system is

1. to encourage contributors to read and acknowledge comments on their records.
   If this does not happen,
2. to remove possibly questionable records from public view.

This system is a form of record curation, but one that preserves each contributor's control over their own records to the maximum extent.

See also My Observations / Searching for flagged records.

Comments on iNaturalist records presented on Calflora are processed in a similar way. You can also comment on an iNaturalist record directly on the iNaturalist website.

Comments on CCH2 records presented on Calflora are processed in a similar way. You can also comment on an CCH2 record directly on the CCH2 website.

Comments on Calflora survey records are processed in a similar way. If the comment includes the name of a particular plant, and the owner of the record does not acknowledge it for 7 days, then that plant will cease to appear in default search results.

If one of your records has the questionable flag on it, there are two ways to get rid of it.

1. On the comment that questions some aspect of your record, check Mark this comment as resolved.

   You may or may not agree with the comment. Checking this box simply indicates that you have read it.

   OR:

2. Edit the record with Plant Observation Entry and save it. You do not need to make any changes to the record.

To see all the comments you have made, go to the My Calflora / Comments page, and search for Comments I have made.

To see comments others may have made about your observations, go to the same page, and search for Comments on my observations.

If other people have made comments on the same records you have commented on, these will be included in the results. So for instance, if the owner of a record answers your comment with a comment of their own, you will see both your comment and their answer. Results are grouped by observation record, so that all comments on a particular observation appear together in date order, the most recent comment first.

Informed comments can be a helpful source of feedback to the person responsible for an observation, even if that person does not agree with it. For legacy observation data (where the observer is either not known, or no longer around), comments can also help get erroneous records out of public view.

• September 23, 2021:   Observation Detail v. 1.07.

• November 7, 2020:   Observation Detail v. 1.02.
Comments are processed in a new way: if the owner of a record does not acknowledge a comment within 7 days, the record will be removed from default search results. The owner of a record can acknowledge a comment by checking Mark this comment as resolved.