The four communities Rich Crowley named for the Chicago Herpetological Society website. Drafted from that conversation so he can correct anything that is missing or overstated.
Rich described the view as prismatic. CHS sits in the middle, and these groups sit around it. Someone arriving at the site should be able to say they have a place in the society, whichever turnstile they came through.
The same person should also be able to look across the other facets of the passion: conservation and citizen science on one side, and the latest science on the other. He named National Geographic and University of Illinois Veterinary Medicine as examples of that academic current.
The picture is one society. It shows who already belongs. It does not sort visitors into separate tracks.
Tone has to hold both ends of the room at once: the scholarly expectation (the Field Museum, Darwin, the bulletin) and an open door for kids and newcomers. Fun belongs in the brand, and what counts as fun depends on the audience.
Rich grouped the veterinary world with the academic one. These are the people who treat CHS as an extension of serious herpetology: veterinary schools and their students, researchers, and readers who come for the bulletin and for current science.
A later membership idea sits nearest this group: a low-cost student tier, on the order of ten dollars, for online access to society resources. That tier is not decided.
Zoological and conservation-themed groups: the people and institutions whose work is the animals in professional care, in the field, and in conservation programs.
The commercial side of the reptile and amphibian world:
People who love reptiles and amphibians and already fill their days with the visuals and the reading. Some keep animals. Some do not.
Source: Mark Figart and Rich Crowley, website working session, September 25, 2026. For review.