[Steuard]

I think that the previous poster's point is that historical photographs are not in-scope to be added to this project: for example, this project will never include the first known photo of a living platypus (or a living cat, as noted), because such photos existed before this project began. The project collects photos posted to iNaturalist that meet the specified criteria.

It's a cool collection of modern observations of rare or remote species! But the title could also describe an entirely different research project, focused on historical media rather than modern exploration. That could also be very cool.

[rendall]

> ...historical photographs are not in-scope to be added to this project... because such photos existed before this project began.

That contradicts what the website itself says:

> This project is designed to showcase the first known photographs of living specimens of any species. Note that by 'first known' I'm referring to the first known photographs of a species anywhere, not just the first photographs to be submitted to iNaturalist.

> If you see an observation currently in the project that you know is not the first photograph of that species, and you can show the earlier photograph, please do not hesitate to message me and I'll remove it.

[Nition]

Both statements are in fact correct and non-contradictory. It's confusing, but I believe what they mean in the guidelines is that there are two criteria

- The photos must be on iNaturalist

- The photo must be the first photo of the species ever, not just the first photo on iNaturalist

That is, if a species was ever photographed anywhere before, outside of iNaturalist, that species can't be part of the project, ever.