[Zoobank-list] RE: [iczn-list] Registration and quality control

[Richard Pyle]

Thank you, Chris, for making this point much more effectively than I have
been able to:

> HOWEVER, note the preamble and the line about "... none restricts the
> freedom of taxonomic thought or actions." All the ICZN and registration
> can do is to ensure a minimal set of requirements, such as that a type
> is properly designated, etc., for new taxa that are named. This is a
> simple process which Zoological Record can do and will do for us.
> Assessing whether the new taxa have merit remains a challenge to
> Science.

This is EXACTLY the line of reasoning I have followed for endorsing the
notion that a *properly* registered new name after 200X should be, BY
DEFINITION, an available name, without a separate need for paper publication
somewhere.  As I tried to articulate yesterday, the role of "publication" in
zoological nomenclature as governed by the ICZN is only about dissemination
and perpetuation, NOT scientific rigor.  ANY mandatory electronic
registration system (regardless of what other requirements are needed for
nomenclatural availability) will need to ensure perpetuation -- by whatever
strategy is necessary (the simplest and most plausible being
automatically-synchronized replication on a massive scale).  Once assurances
for perpetuation have been adequately adressed (the "dissemination" part is
essentially assured simply by being online, but would be absolutely assured
with the aforementioned automatically-synchronized replication), there is no
reason whatsoever to secondarily require Code-compliant appearance of a new
name within a Code-compliant paper publication.

The only argument I know of that may cause concern for this approach is the
"opening a floodgate of new names" argument.  If it weren't already
increadibly easy to create a Code-compliant original description with my
laptop computer, a printer, and the postal system (effectively rendering the
floodgates wide open already), I might buy this argument.  But in a paradigm
where any given taxonomist's track-record for describing unneeded names will
be blatently visible for all the world to see through a universal online
registration system, it seems to me that the floodgates are open much more
widely now than they would in a "registered=available" sceanrio. Thus, the
only thing that needs to be safeguarded against is malicious hackery, which
I believe would be fairly straightforward.

Aloha,
Rich

Richard L. Pyle, PhD
Ichthyology, Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817
Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252
email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/staff/pylerichard.html