" 

 As someone who came to this page trying to find out why there are only 8 gluons and found Danlaycock's explanation sorted it out for me, I'd say this Xerxes guy needs to think about who this thing is written for... people like me who would like an answer, not a load of ""this is a solution in search of a problem"" rubbish. So thank you Danlaycock for explaining it."