[Taxacom] RSS feeds for new (or newly digitised) names

[Paul van Rijckevorsel]

From: "Roderic Page" r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 11:15 AM

> On 10 May 2009, at 08:04, Paul van Rijckevorsel wrote:

>> I am quite dubious about the "Anybody can figure out that frogs
>> don't live in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean." as negatives  generally 
>> are not particular useful. Noticing an error or potential error is not 
>> necessarily useful; it is fixing them (properly) that matters; that 
>> usually takes a great deal more work (and skill and knowledge).

> Not sure what you mean by negatives are not particularly useful. The  fact 
> that, for example, the GBIF distribution map for the amphibian  family 
> Caeciliidae (http://data.gbif.org/species/13148933 ) includes  insects 
> found well outside the amphibian's distribution (due to  homonymy) is 
> likely to adversely affect sensible inferences about  these amphibians.

> I agree that fixing errors matters, but I'd argue that we need to be  able 
> to find them (which is best achieved by aggregating stuff  together to 
> discover contradictions), and provide simple means to fix  them (i.e., not 
> sending an email to some unnamed database curator who  may or may not 
> bother to deal with the issue).

***
Yes, it is always wait-and-see if an e-mail to a database curator results in 
a positive change (however, an e-mail to the IPNI-editors at Kew does 
work!).
* * *

> I'd argue that many errors don't require specific expertise. A lot of 
> taxonomic research is essentially bibliographic and lexicographic (who 
> published this name when, how did they spell it, etc.). There's a lot  of 
> things that anybody with generic research skills (finding sources, 
> reconciling conflicting accounts) could do (let's not kid ourselves,  this 
> ain't rocket science).

***
I would like to believe this to be true, but experience has taught me 
otherwise. It is amazing how may people, even people claiming training, are 
unable to read a provision in the Code and apply it (even when it is pointed 
out to them), no matter how straightforward it looks to me. Not to mention 
how many people are unaware that there is a Code and that it should be 
applied to names.

Rockets scientists are easier to come by.

Paul