[Zoobank-list] Registration and quality control, plus a concern

[Spies, Martin]

Hello to everybody from a new listmember (thanks to Frank Krell  ;-) ).

Frank wrote:

"... We need to get comments from more people, particularly from people who are strictly against registration (nobody so far), because we want to know possible reasons ... We would like to accomodate those sceptical people by considering their concerns and eventually create a system that convinces the overwhelming majority of taxonomists ..."

Well, you'll be 'disappointed' to hear, then, that I'm not against 
registration. However - and please excuse me if I repeat a concern 
voiced on this list before - here's a worry related to me by an 
'amateur' (i.e. not science-employed) and "non-digital" colleague (term 
by Chris Thompson on the ICZN list, meaning a person not habitually 
e-mailing and rarely visiting the web).

In a scenario involving submission for registration of not only a name, 
but also of the content of a new taxon description, that colleague is 
afraid that others more involved and versed in day-to-day science could 
then publish on the same taxon faster than he could, thus securing the 
name and type material for themselves. Apparently, this concern does not 
stem from paranoid imagination, but from bad personal experience.

As I see it, this danger would be highest if registration were a 
requirement but names would continue to become available from the date 
of (classical) publication rather than from that of effective registry. 
However, may be a registration + peer review = availability scenario 
could not completely remove such danger either, if tricky individuals or 
factions were able to 'stall' or prevent acceptance of the competitor's 
proposal in registration-required peer review. The victim of such 
treatment might have some chance to reciprocate on the opposite 
proposal, but it would be best if the registration/availability process 
could safeguard against any such activities in the first place, if only 
to avoid burdening administrators and other well-meaning folks with 
unproductive efforts not leading towards the goals of the registry.

Thanks for your attention. Best regards,

-- 
Martin Spies
c/o Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen
Germany