[Taxacom] LSID versus names

[Jim Croft]

For humans, it is a total waste of time. I would love a cent for every
hour squandered discussing GUID/LSIDS in groups of more than two or
more people. It would make a handsome endowment for taxonomy.

But they are not designed for humans. They are designed for computers
to communicate with each other unambiguously. Which is a bit of a
challenge given the inherent ambiguity in taxonomy and nomenclature.

And yes, they do need to be assigned to every minor variation an
fictional entity. Without these unique identifiers we will not be able
to document that they are a minor variation or fictional entity.

jim

On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 7:34 AM, Stephen Thorpe
<stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
> I think I have some sympathy for Chris' views on this issue. I just can't escape the feeling that this whole GUID/LSID thing is just a big waste of time. I can't really see how it can solve any actual real world problems (meaning problems in nomenclature and/or taxonomy/systematics). What I see happening is GUIDs being assigned willy nilly to various minor variations of the same name, and sometimes even to fictional entities. How does this help?