Sorry Bill, maybe I did miss your point. You confused me when you said "it is fine to call Porter or Stout beer, as, like Ale, they are subdivisions". You then made a statment about CAMRA which seemed to suggest the same.   Ale is not exactly a subdivision - porter and stout would be a subdivision of Ale.   I guess an another analogy would be cheese. Cheddar and Swiss are types of cheese, but there are different varieties of cheddar and Swiss as well.

It does get complicated and confusing!

Bill, if you are ever in the NJ area I will take you to Andy's Corner Bar in Leonia, a world famous beer bar that knows how to serve a good pint! First five rounds are on me!!