[Zoobank-list] Mandatory? What database?

[Doug Yanega]

Rich Pyle wrote:

>One would hope
>that the system would be beneficial to enough taxonomists that, by the end
>of 2007, there will be a clear consensus of approval for mandatory
>registration.

Actually, for all we know, we might already *have* a clear consensus 
in favor of mandatory registration at present - we simply need some 
way of taking an actual, objective vote. In all the years we've been 
discussing this sort of thing, I cannot recall a single individual 
taxonomist expressing that he/she *him/herself* would be absolutely 
unwilling to accept *any* form of mandatory registration (at most, 
they express dislike for one particular *model* of proposed 
registration - and even I am against certain models). The 
nearly-universal phrase of dismissal has been (and still is) "There 
will be too much resistance". Resistance from whom? No one has ever 
given an actual name of an actual taxonomist who has sworn to fight 
against name registration - it's always this vague, undefined "them" 
- is it some clique of powerful ICZN commissioners? A horde of rabid 
amateur lepidopterists? WHO is it that we're all so afraid of, as if 
a single dissenting voice can negate the collective will of hundreds 
of us? This is more than just a rhetorical question - I'd *really* 
like to know, so we can (1) get an objective appraisal of the actual 
degree of dissent (is it 70%, 30%, 10%, 1%?), (2) start working on 
the dissenters, to find out exactly what it would take to get them to 
consent.

For that matter, if a poll is to be taken, I would urge that it be a 
poll of actively publishing taxonomists, and phrased explicitly to 
EXCLUDE considerations of this nebulous, Luddite mass of "Them" that 
would resist all change - something along the lines of

"If 95% of publishing taxonomists had already voted in support of 
this proposal, would you vote against the majority? Y/N;
If yes, why?: (a) I would vote in favor of a different model, even if 
it was not preferred by the majority (b) I am against all forms of 
registration (c) other"

Frankly, I don't think very many people *would* vote against the 
majority. I think the more likely problem we face is that 95% of 
active taxonomists either (1) have the mistaken impression that the 
majority is *against* it, and therefore assume it is a waste of time 
to discuss it, (2) are tired of hearing about registration, and 
simply ignoring it, (3) have heard about it, and don't like it, but 
also aren't aware of all the alternative models, or (4) aren't paying 
any attention, and don't even know what we're trying to do here. Does 
anyone here have a plan to solve these four problems?

Sincerely,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521-0314
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82