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

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."

Comments

Strange irony

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Boaty McBoatface is actually very representative of the "democratic" process in our societies: people vote, but ultimately their voice doesn't matter one jot, and the powers that be impose whatever the hell they want.

The inevitable conclusion, in politics as in silly internet ship-naming polls, is: why vote at all then? The deciders don't really need our opinion, now, do they?

Re:Strange irony

[Anonymous Coward]

And sometimes the "deciders" need to use some common sense, because the voters vote for things that are obviously inappropriate...

Re:Strange irony

[Anonymous Coward]

You're right, it perfectly illustrates *representative* democracy, whereby the people elected as the representatives take into account the public will, and make the decision they think is best for society as a whole.

It seems you're getting that confused with "direct democracy", where any old bunch of idiots can implement stupid decisions that in many cases may not be the best course of action.

Re:Strange irony

[myowntrueself]

Boaty McBoatface is actually very representative of the "democratic" process in our societies: people vote, but ultimately their voice doesn't matter one jot, and the powers that be impose whatever the hell they want.

The inevitable conclusion, in politics as in silly internet ship-naming polls, is: why vote at all then? The deciders don't really need our opinion, now, do they?

Actually I was thinking this is kind of like what happens when you ask a bunch of toddlers to vote on "What do you want for lunch?" The choice will almost always be 'candy' or 'cookies'.

No, you don't ask toddlers open questions like this and give them free reign to choose whatever they want; you let them choose between a restricted set of alternatives.

And this is what you get when you let the Internet community (a bunch of toddlers) invent the names to vote for. What they should have done was generate a list of potential names and let people (toddlers) vote for one of them.

And, yes, the Internet 'community' may as well be a bunch of toddlers.

Re:Strange irony

[Fragnet]

In what way was the name inappropriate, except insofar as it concerns the utter humourless pomposity of bureaucrats and scientists?

Re:Strange irony

[AthanasiusKircher]

In what way was the name inappropriate, except insofar as it concerns the utter humourless pomposity of bureaucrats and scientists?

(1) I know quite a few scientists. While they may not have the same sense of humor as the average person, they often have a quite well-developed (if sometimes weird) sense of humor. Bureaucrats? That's a different story...

(2) While I find this whole situation funny, I do think the name is a bit inappropriate for a long-term thing in a serious scientific research ship. Maybe they could have named it that for a day or a week or something, just to honor the silliness (and get some media attention), and then renamed it something more "serious" for the rest of its lifespan.

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? I don't know what you do for a living, but supposing you're a programmer, imagine that some serious research project that you put years of your life into was given the official designation "Codey McCodeface," and when you tried to get other jobs or talk to people in other fields, you had to use that name to tell them what you had invested your work in. "What was your project?!? What, were you one of the idiots who worked on Clippy??"

Would some people find it funny? Sure. But there are way too many people in the word who make a distinction between times for humor and times to "act like a grown-up." That's the reality of the world. How would you feel if you lost a job or were denied interviews because people who didn't know about your company's "Codey McCodeface" joke thought you weren't a serious candidate when you submitted your resume or mentioned it in an interview?

And, sure -- if you're secure in your career at the moment, you might say, "Well, I wouldn't want to work for those humorless idiots anyway." That's all well and good until you really need a job. Or you're a scientist up for tenure or some significant prize, and someone who doesn't read the news sees you did research on "Boaty McBoatface."

We have social and linguistic conventions in the world. It's generally frowned upon to show up to a funeral dressed in ripped jeans and a tee-shirt, unless that's something the family is cool with. It's generally frowned upon to swear repeatedly in front of a bunch of little kids who aren't your own.

And it's generally appropriate to follow tradition in choosing names for major sea vessels from certain kinds of linguistic categories. That's just the way the world is... when you get your own ship, you can name it what you want.

Re:Strange irony

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is where the analogy halts.

Eating cookies and candy for dinner isn't good for you.
There is no harm done by naming the boat Boaty McBoatface. It is not even offensive.
In fact the name could even be more beneficial than the alternatives since it gives more publicity and might inspire younger people to be more interested in science.

In this case we get a worse alternative because of people taking themselves too seriously to go for a better option.

Re:Strange irony

[Jeremi]

You prove my point: don't you see how incredibly patronizing that is?

Patronizing it may be, but if the shoe fits, wear it.

Fact #1: The Internet voters did, in fact, nominate and then vote for "Boaty McBoatFace".

Fact #2: The Republican primary voters did, in fact, vote to nominate Donald Trump, who just today has suggested he might just go ahead and default on the nation's debt in order to save us money, because he literally thinks that is how government fiscal policy works.

Let's face it, voters are often not well-informed, competent, or thinking rationally. Direct Democracy would work if they were, but that's simply not how the world works, and that's why we don't see any countries based on Direct Democracy. Given that, there is indeed value in restricting voter's choices to include only viable, non-disastrous options. Would you go to a restaurant that put Hemlock soup on the menu? Would you buy a car with gas, brake, and self-destruct pedals? Would you call it patronizing if a company refused to sell you those things?

Re:Boaty McBoatface would have been something ...

[Qzukk]

I'm pretty sure he'd have voted for "RRS It's Bloody Cold Here". It certainly seems like a name a Ship would choose.

Hindsight

[asz1596]

"We want a name that lasts longer than a social-media news cycle" – I suggest you shouldn't have put it up for an online poll, then.

Too late

[spiritplumber]

Every time any newsworthy science is generated about this vessel, the Boaty McBoatface story will be referenced.

Maybe officially...

[vanyel]

...but you *know* everyone is going to call it "Boaty", regardless of what the Powers That Be want...

As far as I'm concerned

[NotSoHeavyD3]

Pluto's still a planet and this ship is Boaty Mcboatface.

Make Boaty a Scientist

[crow]

The solution here is to make Boaty McBoatface a real scientist. Anytime anyone publishes a scientific paper, they should add him as a coauthor.

Poohbahs and PHBs didn't know a good thing...

[dpbsmith]

...when they saw it. Under the name "RRS Sir David Attenborough" it will drop out of the public eye, do some good work, and be forgotten in thirty years. Under the name "RRS Boaty McBoatface" it would have been the subject of children's books, stuffed toys, animated cartoons, been remembered for a century, and inspired a generation of kids to become polar researchers.

While not intentionally funny, the HMS Beagle and the DSV Alvin don't have the most dignified names in the world, and the scientific work they did is none the worse for it.

Punctuation

[Roger W Moore]

it's "fewer votes" not "less votes"
the same way you say "greater than" not "greater then"

It's also customary to start sentences with capital letters and end them with a full stop. When it comes to your own posts it seems that you grasp the idea that an internet post does not have to contain precisely correct English (mine certainly don't). So it is rather strange that you won't let similar lapses in other people's posts pass without criticism.