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'Boaty McBoatface' Polar Ship Named After Attenborough Despite Less Votes (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the whatever-floats-your-boat dept.

The UK's 200 Million Euro polar research ship won't be called Boaty McBoatface. Instead, the new ship will be called RRS (Royal Research Ship) Sir David Attenborough. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) had originally planned to name the new ship via an online poll. In all fairness, RRS Sir David Attenborough did pick up a few votes, though in terms of popularity nothing came close to Boaty McBoatface (it earned over 124,000 votes). "We want a name that lasts longer than a social-media news cycle and reflects the serious nature of the science it will be doing," said Jo Johnson, the U.K. Science minister. BBC reports: While the polar ship itself will not be named Boaty McBoatface, one of its remotely operated sub-sea vehicles will be named Boaty in recognition of the vote. James Hand, who first suggested the flippant moniker, said he was pleased the name would "live on."

2 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. False Advertising by BitZtream · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Not sure about Europe or the UK specifically, but this sounds like a prime example of false advertising.

    'Hey, we'll name this ship after the most popular name'

    and then

    'yea, we don't like that name, so we're just going to use the one we picked before we faked the online poll'

    Good job guys, you show that you have absolutely no respect for others and won't follow through on the statements you make. Good publicity.

    Maybe you shouldn't have been so fucking stupid as to do a trendy online poll if you weren't willing to follow through with the trendy result. Dumbass.

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  2. Re:Strange irony by vux984 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    But naming it "Boaty McBoatface" for the long term? Can you imagine a scientist who worked on that ship and putting that on your resume?

    Yes. If I were a scientist who worked on that ship, I'd still put boaty mcboatface at least in parenthesis.

    Why? Because nobody on the planet has heard of Attenblawhrawwatever, and few ever will. I'll put that name on too of course, but if I mention Boaty McBoatface -- it maybe a "stupid" name, but its a celebrity name all the same. If I put I worked on Boaty McBoatface... everyone knows THAT boat. Its not 'just another research vessel' ... its Boaty!