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Taxacom: TAXACOM -- the long goodbye

Vincent Smith vince at vsmith.info
Wed Dec 10 05:08:09 CST 2025 

Dear Jim and fellow Taxacomers,

I suspect that like many, Taxacom lurks towards the end of my e-mail pile,
but I couldn't quite let Taxacom go and I am enormously appreciative of
those managing and contributing to the list over my 25+ years as a
subscriber, providing a sense of community and (mostly!) wisdom.

I think it would be extremely important to properly archive the Taxacom's
content, partly because of its amazing scientific, cultural and historical
value, but also (and perhaps controversially) there is a lot of potential
to datamine this resource by AI, to extract some of that wisdom from its
contributors. As Roget Burks noted, Reddit might be a good alternative if
there are enough willing to act as moderators, but I also recognise that
this could be quite a lot of work, and many of us are plugged into other
digital fora, though nothing quite like Taxacom.

As J.B.S. Haldane once wrote, ?The world shall perish not for lack of
wonders, but for lack of wonder.? Taxacom helped keep that sense of wonder
alive for me and many others and I?m grateful to have been part of that
shared curiosity, and I hope its spirit continues in whatever form comes
next.

Thanks again,

Vince

--

Dr Vincent S. Smith, Head of Digital, Data & Informatics
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK
E-mail: v.smith at nhm.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 207 942 5127

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On Tue, 9 Dec 2025 at 09:56, Andrew Whittington via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> I would like to add my thanks for all the years of interesting discussion,
> particularly vital for someone working alone and outside of mainstream
> institutions and unable to attend conferences (for largely financial
> reasons). Taxacom was sometimes my only link to very pertinent discussions
> and comments and I have learned a great deal over the years from it.
>
> My thanks and my respect
>
> Kind regards,
> Andrew
>
> ==o0o==?
> Andrew E Whittington
> Consultant Entomologist, PhD, FRES MCSFS
> +44(0)74 8383 0992
>
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fflyevidence.co.uk%2F&data%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C28a189b695d64046844408de37dc7e0a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C639009620480715303%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=lHv%2BAhmlN7r%2FJQMepurEcFeSHBJ6VKYwmjf%2Fp3vfpwM%3D&reserved=0
> ORCID: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Forcid.org%2F0000-0002-0465-1172&data%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C28a189b695d64046844408de37dc7e0a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C639009620480738062%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7wOsAfdYbCl2SRsSprvy9lWecYdcrqneHBvxSpyzZAs%3D&reserved=0
> ZooNova<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fzoonova.afriherp.org%2F&data%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C28a189b695d64046844408de37dc7e0a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C639009620480766000%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Cj5woNZ3myZpwSJdmguUTu8oJTtD7bQTdXQjn6tYM6I%3D&reserved=0> Entomology Editor
>
> "Taxonomy does not need quick publications, it needs serious and solid
> ones.?
> Dubois, A., Bour, R. & Ohler, A. (2015)
>
> ________________________________
> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> on behalf of Peter Bowler
> via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
> Sent: 09 December 2025 05:29
> To: TAXACOM <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
> Cc: Beach, James H. <beach at ku.edu>
> Subject: Re: Taxacom: TAXACOM -- the long goodbye
>
> My thanks joins that of everyone who has written in thanking Richard,
> Patricia, James and Peter for Taxacom - which has been a vibrant setting of
> exchange for 36 years!!!!!!!!  Thank you - and I wish there were a way,
> perhaps in a different venue, to continue it.
>
> THANK YOU!
>
> Peter
>
> > On Dec 8, 2025, at 11:02?AM, Beach, James H. via Taxacom <
> taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Taxacomers --
> >
> > When Drs. Richard Zander and Patricia Eckel started the online service
> "Taxacom" in 1987 at the Buffalo Museum of Science in Buffalo, New York,
> access to the online resource was through dial-up modems. It was years
> before global internet mail or the World Wide Web.  They graciously allowed
> me to assist in sustaining Taxacom as we evolved it from the original
> bulletin board to Bitnet Listserv software, and later Mailman software, at
> universities in Michigan, Massachusetts, California, and finally Kansas.
> Dr. Peter Rauch co-managed Taxacom with me for all of that time.
> >
> > During the 38 years, we have had innumerable rigorous, nuanced,
> interesting and fun scholarly dialogues.  We focused on important and
> complex topics in systematics, biogeography, taxonomy and nomenclature,
> among other areas.
> >
> > After consulting with the Richard and Patricia (now at the Missouri
> Botanical Garden) and with Peter, we agreed that this would be a good time
> to retire Taxacom and ride off into the sunset.  We plan to close the
> Taxacom email list later this month (December 2025). This could be a bit of
> a shock or perhaps a bit of relief for some.  Feel encouraged to send any
> thoughts you may have to the list (soon) or to me.
> >
> > We would like to recognize the many intellectual contributions hundreds
> of scientists have made to the Taxacom collective consciousness on research
> issues.  But it seems hardly possible to adequately acknowledge all of the
> cognitive and keystroking effort you put in over 38 years that made Taxacom
> worth receiving and reading.  I hope you feel a sense of satisfaction and
> accomplishment for keeping Taxacom subscribers enlightened, and sometimes
> even entertained, with your wisdom and wit.
> >
> > I will archive the e-mail contents of the Taxacom mailing list archive
> in standard ".mbox' format files, so should there be a scholar or
> initiative in the future interested in what you all did here the archived
> mail will be preserved and easily read.   I will make those files available
> upon request to anyone early in 2026.
> >
> > Thank you again for subscribing, contributing, or for just hanging out
> with Taxacom.  It has been fun, and it has been a good run.
> >
> >
> > With best wishes,
> >
> > Jim Beach
> >
> >
> > James H. Beach
> > Biodiversity Institute
> > University of Kansas
> > 1345  Jayhawk  Blvd
> > Lawrence, KS 66045
> > Cell:   785.331.8508
> > _______________________________________________
> > Taxacom Mailing List
> >
> > Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years, 1987-2025.
> >
> > Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> > For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Flists.ku.edu%2Flistinfo%2Ftaxacom__%3B!!CzAuKJ42GuquVTTmVmPViYEvSg!ONTdroga1KSMV4br5ztQuCtX_jG1EvLZWN-iurG-bWRCAxNTgUMJs1ICrXCXbyS2VOXwuWeQvjAHBTjNyqsp%24&data%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C28a189b695d64046844408de37dc7e0a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C639009620480790733%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=asQrx7%2BkYqOMVJ4ZSw6206xsxSbYBiHN7wKGjl7V%2BYo%3D&reserved=0
> > You can reach the person managing the list at:
> taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
>
> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years, 1987-2025.
>
> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
> https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
> You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
>
> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years, 1987-2025.
>
> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
> https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
> You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
>
>
>

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