Something ate my carnations.

[rickjames]

I agree. However, I don't agree with your thoughts that if we don't buy them, the retailers won't bring them in, simply because there are too many uninformed/uneducated/uncaring people that WILL always buy them. So, if the guys above can be the ones that are the 0.1% you mention, then go for it. Tell us what you do to keep them, post your thoughts on the boards, and maybe we'll start seeing the common feature of the success stories. Then it becomes 0.5%, then 2%, then ten years from now, we all keep them successfully. That's how this hobby progresses, and sure, it sucks that a lot of carnations are going to die, but the ones that kill them are going to kill them regardless, so again, let's learn how to keep them, and teach those that kill them the proper techniques so the killing stops down the road.
My first aquarium book describes how although those acropora corals sure are purdy, they can't be kept in aquaria, just can't be done...hobbyists over the years proved this to be wrong, albeit with lots of coral deaths, I'm sure. But today we keep them, propagate them, and sell captive raied acropora all around the world, with a pretty good success record. One day it will be carnations, due to the efforts of the hobbyists who strive to do it right. As always, JMO.

Agreed. I would venture to suggest that a lot of what we have come to know about coral husbandry comes from trial and error in hobbyists tanks, rather than from scientists.