Taxonomy fights, who gives a flying .....
How's that for a title, did I get your attention? (LOL) I don't check forums but every few months, and now I remember why. Gees, some of the long threads I see surprise me. I guess I shouldn't be, long time members are passionate and concerned over what they see going on, bravo!
My point? At my age I've learned to chill over all these arguements I see in recent posts. Let's change a name, publish a paper, and get tenure. Who cares. Remember the customer people. I belong to other groups in music, autographs, etc. It's the same everywhere, people who must have worked for Ford Motor Co., because they always "have a better idea". While this site IS for everyone, the majority of visitors are amateurs, nature lovers, and photographers. They come in here for a name on their pic, and don't give a hoot about infraorders, superfamilys or tribes. Frankly I hate them myself, but I was "family" trained in Gainesville, go figure.
Thank you Robin for your analogy. When I go to the store I want to see 50 fruit names in FRONT of me, not hidden under some higher classification. Eric; "I may just wash my hands of Bugguide". Please don't, I enjoy your comments. I do understand your frustration though.
This is a problem with academia in general. I'm not picking on anybody in here, it's across the board in all the sciences. "Specialists" who can tell you everything there is to know on a subject, but don't have a damn clue on how to communicate to the public. I teach my students to stress "interpretation" over dry "information". Interpretation is an art form not a science. Remember your audience, keep it SIMPLE and EASY. That is not the same as "dumbing down". People who say you can't simplify taxonomy have spent too much time stuck in a lab under a scope. Get out into the real world. Go argue your points in a technical journal. Come in here and have fun.
Fun?? Gee, I thought that's why we volunteer our time in here. If I'm corrected on a ID, I don't take it as a personal afront. It's usually by people I know and respect. So I will sit back and ENJOY helping people with odonates, moths, or anything else to the best of my ability. Has my ranting and raving been blunt enough? Well don't expect it very often. Sit back and enjoy helping the visitors, or we'll start hearing more people comment like Eric about wanting to quit, and we don't want that.
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