Extinct vs Disappeared

[Andrew Simpson <deathspresso@yahoo.com>]

With Stegosaurs it is often said that they went extinct midway through the 
Cretaceous. This always bothers me slightly as I prefer the phrase 'disappeared 
from the fossil record' over the word extinct do to the fact that disappeared 
from the fossil record is a factual statement were as went extinct is 
speculative. I for one tend to assume that Stegosaurs would have likely still 
existed in small remote niches and on islands where advanced predation and food 
niche taking new herbivores with better defenses couldn't get to them and thus 
wouldn't cause their end. 

Am I being nit-picky?

Andrew Simpson
Dinosaur Enthusiast