[Draft] Throwing Paleontologists A Bone?

[Ransium]

Does NS have enough dinosaur bone issues? Ransium says "No!"

1) I don't see how resurrecting dinosaurs would affect this issue one way or the other.

2) Not in love with any of the effects so I'm happy for suggestions.

[title]Throwing Paleontologists A Bone

[desc] After a commercial fossil hunter discovered an incredibly rare complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton and subsequently announced he intended to sell it the highest bidder an a the auction house, a debate has kicked off on the ethics of for-profit fossil hunting. One of your more dinosaur-obsessed aides has convinced you to go to a dig site so that you might talk with stakeholders and decide on the matter.

[validity] must be capitalist must have some spending in public education

[option] "Fossil hunters are destroying our precious fossil record!" cries Dr. @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, a noted paleontologist, while gently brushing the dirt from a Triceratops skull in a dig site. "They're not documenting the context of the fossils they find adequately, they're careless with less valuable fossils, and it's going to cost @@CAPITAL@@ University a bundle to try to get that precious T. rex, rather than having it end up in private hands. You need to make so only publicly-funded paleontologists with scientific, not capitalist, intentions are allowed to collect fossils."
[effect] kids who dig up fossilized sharks' teeth are arrested

[option] "The truth of the matter is these bones are a limited-time-only offer," states @@RANDOMNAME_MALE@@ the fossil hunter at the center of the controversy, slinging a jackhammer behind his back. "If nobody finds and collects them, they'll be eroded a way in a few years. Besides, fossil hunting is a great hobby; it gets people outdoors, educates them about @@NAMES@@ past and can even put some cash in their pockets if they're lucky. Require some basic certification and documentation requirments so the scientific record is preserved and let the free market take it's course."
[effect] @@DEMONYM_PLURAL@@ commonly use Ammonites as mantel pieces

[option] "Why are y'all even spendin' my tax dollars on hoity-toity govument museums and paleonto-whatevers?" asks @@RANDOMNAME@@, the rancher whose land this dig is occurring on. "Seems like there's plenty of a free market for bone collection and display. You should cut all govument funding for such nonsense and focus on important things, like building up the army to keep us safe from those dang gum' Wezeltonians."
[effect] the only @@DEMONYM@@-funded scientists are those who work on better ways of killing people

[Australian rePublic]

Interesting issue indeed, but:
1. Option 1, how do you expect to learn someone's intentions?
2. Effect for option 3, well that's a bit harsh. Just because he opposes museums doesn't mean that he opposes medical research, or agricultural research, or technologic advancement research, or the other hundred million types of sciences

[Aclion]

Effect for option two is hard to understand. What about

[desc] professional fossil hunters bull-doze fossil beds in search of the truly valuable fossil

[Ransium]

Effect for option two is hard to understand. What about

[desc] professional fossil hunters bull-doze fossil beds in search of the truly valuable fossil

Still not in-love with the desc overall, but definitely agree that is an actually comprehensible sentence.

[Trotterdam]

1) I don't see how resurrecting dinosaurs would affect this issue one way or the other.

Well, fossils would be less valuable when you have living examples of the animal to study, but they'd still have some value - showing how and where the dinosaurs lived in the Mesozoic rather than now, back in their native habitat, without human intervention, that kind of thing.

I mean, archeologists are still excited to find human fossils and we have plenty of those around.

Tyrannosaurus rex

T. rex

That has to be the single most common binomial name mistake ever.

dinosaur obsessed

"Dinosaur-obsessed".

while gently brushing the dirt from a Tricertops skull

"Triceratops". Maybe italicize too if you want to be formal.

rather than having it end up in private hand.

"Hands".

only publicly funded paleontologist

"Publicly-funded paleontologists".

[desc] kids who dig up fossilized shark's teeth are arrested

Hmm, should that be "sharks' teeth"?

Also, huh, [desc]?

jack-hammer

"Jackhammer".

[desc] private dinosaur bull-doze fossil beds in search of the truly valuable fossil

"Bulldoze" and, umm, shouldn't that be "dinosaur hunters" or something?

[option] "Why are ya'll even spendin' my tax dollars

"Y'all".

the rancher who's land this dig is occurring on

"Whose".

[Ransium]

Changes made, thanks.

[Aclion]

Also I feel like option 2 is too bad, making option 1 the "good" option (and I'm pretty pro-market so that should say something.)

I wrote this up but it has the same problem, it's too good, making 1 and 2 the bad options.

"Not all Fossil-Hunters", exclaims @@RANDOMNAME@@, an amateur "digger", "What my colleagues are ignoring here is that there are many people who participate in fossil hunting for the love of the art. Fossil hunting is a great hobby. It gets people outdoors, educates them about @@NAMES@@ past and can even put some cash in their pockets if they're lucky. Why not allow private parties to conduct digs, so long as they undergo certification and training and promise to document and preserve all their finds"

Universities and the fossil market are both swamped by amateur collectors' Ammonite finds.

[Ransium]

I appreciate you taking the time to write up an alternative choice. What drew me to this issue though was that fossils are ephemeral and there simply aren't enough scientists to document them all appropriately. I'm always very interested in the irreversible destruction of potentially invaluable data. Anyway, I will look into merging the two options to maintain the arguments which are important to me.

[Ransium]

Changes made to 2. Still hate the effects lines by and large. Definitely would not self-edit this issue, as I see it's flaws but can't quite figure out how to fix them myself.

[Kyratistani]

Just a small thing; maybe make up your own dinosaur names, or use the national animal in some way? I think it'd make the issue unique

[Ransium]

Just a small thing; maybe make up your own dinosaur names, or use the national animal in some way? I think it'd make the issue unique

Hmm... I think I'd prefer to stick with real dinosaurs. Thanks for the comment though.

I'll likely submit this soon unless there is more feedback.