[Taxacom] FW: formation of zoological names with Mc, Mac, et

[dipteryx at freeler.nl]

Van: Stephen Thorpe [mailto:s.thorpe at auckland.ac.nz]
Verzonden: za 5-9-2009 9:52
>[...] Problems are relative to what is wanted. The Code is not 
>problematic in itself, but the Code not being logically watertight 
>does pose a problem to anybody who wants to get a machine to 
>"understand" the Code. In other words, the problem is not with 
>the Code or the database, but with the marriage between the two ...

***
That is pretty much it. What is the purpose of the database? To me
it looks like the purpose of a database should be to gather and 
represent real data, as they exist in real world, where taxon concepts
are a reality to be kept constantly in mind (the examples on fish
by Richard Pyle not being exceptional). On the other hand, it would 
appear that there is a tendency for top-down data aggregators to want
to present simpler and 'better' data (from a split-off universe where
taxonomists would do their jobs 'properly' and where the Code would 
have been written with the data aggregators in mind).

Paul