[WikiEN-l] naming convention for birds and others

[JFrost8401 at aol.com]

Ec

I am sorry that this debate is getting so heated. There has been a compromise 
reached, and I can't see the necessity to upset it. 

The capitalisation style is not restricted to field guides. It is standard in 
indubitably serious profession publications and organisations such as the 
British Ornithological Union, British Birds Rarities Committee, Birds of the 
Western Palearctic, Handbook of Birds of The World, Handbook of Australian and New 
Zealand Birds, Ibis etc.

Also Charles Sibley's DNA-DNA scientific papers use capitalisation, and you 
can't get much more serious than that (incidently, he also wrote and 
illustrated the best current guide to the birds of North America).

The main exceptions to capitalisation are paper encyclopedias and their 
on-line versions. The serious point I was making earlier was that the nature of 
wikien means that there have to be compromises, as there are on spelling and 
vocabulary issues, and the nature of some of the articles. If we want this project 
to be like Brittanica, why bother competing?

As you are aware, my main interest is birds, but mammals, as far as I can 
see, follow the same conventions. I don't know enough about other taxonomic 
groups to go to the wall on them. I can't see why the people who write the articles 
can't get on with using the agreed consistent style without it upsetting 
those who don't, on the whole, write the articles

Jim
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