RE: Apistogramma sp. Schwarzsaum -Reply

[William Vannerson <William_Vannerson@ama-assn.org>]

>>Can someone tell me why publishing on the web would not meet all
these criteria?<<

I think one problem would be identifying which web sites would be
accepted by the scientific community as being an acceptable media read
by their community.  Many club journals or newsletters would not qualify
because they do not have sufficient distribution in order to permeate the
information to the community.

Permanence is another issue that would be a problem.  When someone
is referencing a citation, there's a very high probability that a copy of that
citation exists somewhere that can be accessed.  Hence the very
existence of the citation.  Web sites may not be permanent.  Fifty years
from now few, if any, of the URLs in use today may exist tomorrow.

Perhaps if a system or archiving web publications is implemented, like
postscript files onto CD-ROM stored in a designated facility, then maybe
such "papers" may be acceptable.

Another problem that exists, which I experience first hand, is the cost of
entry is virtually nothing.  This allows anyone the ability to publish on the
web, with or without peer review.  I, unwittingly, changed the name of a
killie I once kept from Cynolebias Sp. CXCL004 to Cynolebias
Uraguayensis based upon an email correspondence with a friend from
Argentina.  Unfortunately, the information may have been premature. 
Another friend from Germany pointed out to me that the species had not
be described yet.  A description is being worked on by an acquaintance
of his so he's fairly confident that the name is still C. sp. CXCL004.

How easy it was for me to publish the incorrect name!

My page did not include enough information to qualify for an official
description.  But if it had, I could have been describing and naming a fish
before the collector who is the process for writing a formal and detailed
description.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that the fish I bought 1 1/2
years ago as Cyn. Sp. CXCL004 is most likely not that species.  My friend
in Germany and another in France that keep the fish forwarded photos
of their's.  The fish in the photos are most definitely not the same fish I
had.  Yikes.

So while I am a big proponent of electronic publishing, I'm not sure we're
ready yet for using it as an acceptable media for official descriptions. 
(BTW, I'm sure it will happen someday once some of the issues and
procedures are acceptably resolved.)



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