They should run with it, the positive PR now and in the future when the RSS Boaty McBoatface docks would be worth it.<p>It would also show a sense of humour and make it something fun.
To be clear, the U.K. Govt website [1] allows people to submit suggestions, and the NERC are not obliged to use the highest ranking suggestion. Although personally I liked 'what iceberg' as a name<p>Edit: added link<p>[1] <a href="http://www.nerc.ac.uk/press/releases/2016/10-ship-naming/" rel="nofollow">http://www.nerc.ac.uk/press/releases/2016/10-ship-naming/</a>
Although these pranks are funny they highlight a something very serious - the failure case of direct democracy. When minor issues come up for vote not everyone cares. The people who do care enough to vote can easily be trolls.<p>As an example, imagine that a vote comes up for raising tolls from $1 to $2 on little used street. It's one of 1000 votes a month in a direct democracy. There's little chance of getting attention if you get a bunch of people together to vote "no" but what if you get a bunch of people together to vote "no" on all odd numbered streets?<p>A large number of contests with low voter interest, plus the potential for publicity is fertile ground for trolling.
Similar thing happened in Iceland a few years ago.
Before starting work to review the constitution, they ran a facebook poll to get input from the population.
Top suggestions were "Free Ice Cream"and "More Volcanoes":
<a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/31/icelands-crowdsourced-constitution-submitted-for-approval-nyan/" rel="nofollow">http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/31/icelands-crowdsourced-con...</a>
What is so wrong with it?<p>Does it sound like every other seagoing vessel before it? No but who cares. It's unique and wonderful that human beings have a sense of humor. Maybe public works projects need more of this.
Here's a entertaining/embarrassing story from Spain, related to this.<p>A few years ago (2008), the Spanish organisers of the Eurovision contest thought it would be a great idea to allow the public to decide who should represent the country in the Eurovision contest. Amongst all songs entered was this silly parody from a comedian, playing a fake musician called Chikilicuatre [0].<p>So well... After some heavy campaigning/trolling by the TV channel that 'created' this character and song, it came out as the winner. You can imagine the organisers' face after this! But they sullenly accepted it and let him join the contest [1].<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodolfo_Chikilicuatre" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodolfo_Chikilicuatre</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRQhZtbm97I" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRQhZtbm97I</a><p>P.S. They learned their lesson and changed the voting system so it could not be exploited again.
Pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan to all-Stations, all-Stations, all-Stations, this is RSS Boaty McBoatface. We are currently not sure where we are and are suffering from a social media crisis. Please advise whether we should follow the masses or maintain our stiff upper lip
Why on earth does the naming of a boat need to be a solemn affair? Why is it a bad thing that "what we get" is lighthearted? Won't this make more people invested in and engaged with the research purpose of the boat?<p>This excerpt from a speech John Cleese gave on creativity was the first thing to come to mind when I read this headline: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7fyOLe-xn4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7fyOLe-xn4</a>
I love this kind of british humour, however crude. In my mind, it's similar to the campaigns (most years?) to have a non-christmas song be the #1 christmas single.
This reads less like a thoughtful consideration of what happens when you let the Internet decide than a naked attempt by NYTimes to grab a quick hit of local search traffic around 'Boaty McBoatface.'
Well, they should have known better. When they were searching a name for a bridge close to the new Wembley Stadium, german fans hijacked the Poll and voted for "Dietmar Hamann Bridge", a german national soccer player.<p>Also, in a small town in germany, people voted for a "Bud Spencer Tunnel". As a concession, the city council named the local swimming pool for him, after they found out he had been training there when a olympic swimmer prior to his acting career.
Better than paying a group of "naming experts" some huge amount of money, only for them to come up with a generic-sounding name.<p>The Internet can be very silly but also a great source of creativity.
Remember that episode when Colbert managed to get 17 million votes to get a new Hungarian bridge named after him? That's versus ~10 million of total population of Hungary. The outcome was highly predictable, but it didn't make the process any less entertaining :)<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megyeri_Bridge#Results" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megyeri_Bridge#Results</a>
What you get when you let the internet decide what words to put in a haiku: <a href="http://www.crowdhaiku.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.crowdhaiku.com</a>
One of the best "when you let internet decide" moments was the Eurovision 2008 contestant for Spain. Organizers tried online votation and this guy won: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A47UTfzoj-Q" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A47UTfzoj-Q</a>
Similar to the famous Glasgow statue with the now traditional traffic cone:
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24907190" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24907190</a>
A few years ago, there was an online poll to name the next Mountain Dew flavor, which was supposed to taste like granny smith apples.<p>The winner was "Hitler Did Nothing Wrong". Other top contenders included "Gushing Granny" and "Fapple".
I was unable to read the article at first due to a malfunctioning scroll hijacking script. <a href="http://livememe.com/nyt.webm" rel="nofollow">http://livememe.com/nyt.webm</a><p>Reloading the page fixed the issue. Bad ad network?
So, basically what we're learning is that the internet <i>as a whole</i> will tend to act in trollish, hilarious ways for things that don't matter.<p>I might be okay with that.
I dislike the NYT more and more these days. I knew as I read that the title the article was from NYT. They are becoming very predictable in their biases.
Well just give people a vote but secure veto rights so you can pick from a runner-up.<p>Not that complicated.<p>Crowdsourcing can be wonderful but it does have its pitfalls for the lowest common denominator.
They should just admit that Boaty McBoatface is a stupid name, that asking "the Internet" to decide was a stupid idea, and quickly bury this idea behind them. At least it would set a precedent. I can't ever remember anything like this turning into something cool or favorable.<p>I know it was for the publicity. It worked, so good for that boat-line.