Thought I would add my 2 cents. I never use the CNAH list. I typically stick with SSAR and adjust according to research I read.

I'm with Josh. What do you mean by arguement for the website? For its existance? Or their list?

The argument for basing the species list off SSAR.

I could justify either direction, CNAH or SSAR, but it seems to make sense to stick with one as the BASIS.  I will say that a few years back the website did follow SSAR more so, but the SSAR list got so ridiculously out-of-date--and for a few other reasons--a switch was made to CNAH.  It was a pain in the butt then, so if people want it switched back they had better *really* want it...accompanied by a solid argument for why I should invest my time to it.

Here are some of my quick thoughts...

* AR herp book, G&F snake booklet, and Conant/Collins follow CNAH more closely and these are likely other resources people would utilize.
* OK herp book and 2nd Ed. MO herp book follow SSAR more closely, so there may be some momentum for newer publications.
* SSAR has not been very timely in updating their list.
* SSAR is more officially recognized by herp groups.
* SSAR applies some conventions to common names that are hard for me to swallow..."Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake", etc.
* Website mostly uses CNAH and would take some significant investment to switch it to SSAR.

If it matters, I was intending to focus on these during winter break:
* AHS logo.
* New/Updated range maps / mapping system (at least set a framework).
* Minor updates to taxonomy (as proposed above).
* 2010 PDF Species Lists
* Upgrade programs to latest versions.

If you throw in major revisions to taxonomy, less of the rest gets done.  Just so you know.

Glenn pretty much hit the nail on the head. It seems like to me that the biggest flaw in the CNAH is that they seem a little too quick to update. Instead of waiting for a significant amount of time for the research to be critiqued, they just update the list. I don't have enough of an argument to warrant you taking that much time to rework the site. I wish I had time to go through both lists and help you decide which names to include on the site. So feel free to use what you prefer and maybe some day we can work through the list and alter the ones we really don't agree with (like the examples above).