Part of my quick response to <[log in to unmask]>:

I wholeheartedly agree with the comment.

Electronic (and magnetic) media are ephemeral. They do not age well
and can become corrupted or, in the event of a really bad
electromagnetic storm (say a nearby nova occurs) all records
everywhere might be wiped.

Paper (or archival plastic "paper") are a must for archival
literature. Hardcopy is the vital medium for repository of scientific
data.

Likewise the ZooBank Official Register is in reality not a good idea.
The basic idea is good, but I know how difficult such a project is to
complete, and it can stall anywhere along the line. I work (when
funding is available) as a fossil preparator at the Department of
Geology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, where I am usually
paid to prepare whales. I am in effect the default curator of the
fossil collections, and despite my boss' insistence that the
electronic catalog is the main one and that the written one needs only
the most basic of data, the fact is that the electronic catalog is
ephemeral and that there is nobody to complete it... and it will
probably never be done. I insist on entering all available data in the
written catalog.

Another problem with online-only descriptions is that it is so easy
that anyone can do it, unrefereed, creating taxonomic havoc. It is
much more difficult to publish hardcopy papers on one's own, though I
know of two in New Zealand who do or have done so, one unrefereed
(though in the case of the latter at least one work has no technical
failings).

As to authors having to submit their new taxa by one year after
publication, this is nonsense. Also, what can they do if he doesn't?

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