[Zoobank-list] ZooBank Policies

[Francisco Welter-Schultes]

Dear Frank and colleagues,
I would prefer British English as the language to be chosen for such 
outlets.

more than one months - month ?

the Chair of the ZBC shall call for a vote - why not must?

The Chair will also designate - why not must?

"If more than 50% of the votes received by the voting deadline are in
favor" - should be 75 % 
(and favour instead of favor)

"If 50% or fewer of the votes received by the voting" - should be 75 
%

This should also apply to B 4 (perhaps copy i and ii to this section 
too, to make sure that the same voting procedure should be applied 
for amendments).

I prefer 75 % instead of 50 % for a majority vote. 

There is currently a trend in the Commission that important decisions
are mainly driven by internal circles of relatively few persons, not
reflecting opinions of the broad variety of taxonomists and not always
considering that there are other opinions outside, and not considering
that there might be a need to consult experts before taking decisions
(examples are Art. 8.6 where CD-ROMs were allowed as published 
work, where certainly no experts were consulted, and Art. 11.6 ruling
availability of names published in synonymy, where voices of 
taxonomists were obviously suppressed). 
This may also apply to developments related to ZooBank (the ZBC which 
is appointed by the Commission, the Commission itself being not 
democratically legitimated), where decisions will affect the broad 
variety of taxonomists out there. As a consequence, any important 
decision should not be approved by simple majority vote, neither 
within the ZBC nor within the Commission. Like the ICZN Code, ZooBank 
will only be successful if almost all taxonomists feel themselves 
well represented and their concerns considered and taken serious, and 
not only some.

I expect that one of the first issues to be solved in the course of 
establishing ZooBank is to create a multilingual portal for name 
registration.

Francisco

University of Goettingen, Germany
www.animalbase.org