I'm sure this has been mentioned, but the concern about using this database to contain more, better statistical information is that it's linked to registration. If you build a registration process that people who don't like stats will find annoying, you run the risk of people deciding not to register. At that point you end up trading more data for registration records, and all that extra data is devalued because your database is incomplete now.
I've been a geek my whole life. My first job out of school was doing data analysis on databases being fed through AI processes and conducting quality assurance on the information that came out the back end of the process. That data was used by the biggest companies in the country to determine the effectiveness of different marketing strategies. No pressure. That was back in 1987 before anyone knew what AI was. Wow. What a dweeb I was.
It's been 34 years since then, and I've been involved in problem solving with data, quality assurance with data, converting databases between platforms, you name it, I've probably had to do it.
But all these stats aren't for everyone. Not even me. The best part of gardening for me is getting dirt under my fingernails while listening to hummingbirds buzz my tower on their way to the monarda. The thought of tracking RGB breakouts makes me want to sod my seedling bed.
Consider that people don't have to register their daylilies. They can simply patent them and not share anything with us. Or go back to just sharing with the local garden club. The success of the current database rests in the inclusiveness of all kinds of contributors. Hobby gardeners that just like to collect and plant bee pod seeds can contribute as easily as a full fledge daylily farmer that plants 5,000 seeds a year.
I think it would be a bad day if either the common gardeners and hobbyists or the big time daylily nurseries found a bunch of extra statistical requirements for registration more annoying than it was worth.
