Is this a blow for democracy? Or a win?

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
03/22/2016 at 17:19 • Filed to: None

They are holding a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ...and this is the current frontrunner.

What the boat is and does.

ASIDE: The National Environmental Research Council missed a great opportunity, it should have been named the National Environmental Research Department.

DISCUSSION (21)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 17:23

Yep, I read about this last night. So hilarious.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 17:24

We live in a great time...

For Sweden > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 17:24

Democracy is that drug that the bourgeois use to control the workers

ttyymmnn > For Sweden
03/22/2016 at 17:29

Groucho Marx?

not for canada - australian in disguise > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 17:31

The funny thing is, this isn’t the first time someone’s ran a contest to name a boat, and it’s turned into a complete shitshow. BC Ferries did this back in 2015.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/20/bc-…

You’d think people would’ve learned by now.

BATC42 > not for canada - australian in disguise
03/22/2016 at 17:41

At least the suggestions for the NERC ship are funny. And on top of that, it made people aware of the organization and its work/

ttyymmnn > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 17:43

The Air Force is also asking people to submit a name for the new B-21 bomber. I wonder how that’s going?

Kinja'd!!!

http://www.afgsc.af.mil/Library/Nameth…

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn
03/22/2016 at 17:46

At least they were smart enough to not display the votes so that one doesn’t gain momentum.

AuthiCooper1300 > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 17:58

Nothing to do with democracy, I’m afraid.

This is what happens when some shallow overpaid PR people decide to do something “trendy”, “young”, “playful” to “increase the visibility and public profile of the organisation/body/company/etc”. They present the idea to the Management Board and of course the old curmudgeons in charge of operations that usually inhabit those rarefied levels do not dare to question it – lest they be called, well, old curmudgeons.

Who knows. It could have been much worse than Boaty McBoatFace. At least it sounds cute, in a four-year old way, like the “Little Red Ship” (officially, the MV Explorer) that used to do cruise tours in the Antarctic. In a strangely twisted way it could even work.

They’ve been rather lucky, actually.

HammerheadFistpunch > AuthiCooper1300
03/22/2016 at 18:01

AuthiCooper1300 > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 18:15

Your point being? Perhaps you did not like the tone of my posting? If that is the case, so sorry.

HammerheadFistpunch > AuthiCooper1300
03/22/2016 at 18:17

It’s meant to agree, this is when voters rick rolled the sing-a-long at shea stadium. Take it easy friend.

AuthiCooper1300 > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 18:19

Ah, OK. I am not a native English speaker and I don’t know all the cultural clues, so I was at a complete loss (even after looking up “rick rolling”). It has also been a truly shitty day and I am a bit jumpy too.

Sorry if I came across rather angrily.

Anima > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 18:32

They do have a clause that says they are the ones that eventually pick the name. So i’m sure they are glad for all the publicity.

That said. I would love it to actually be RSS Boaty Mcboatface. If they are good sports and stick with it, it would sell headlines for years to come.

HammerheadFistpunch > Anima
03/22/2016 at 18:37

And it wouldnt throw away all this publicity either and all it would cost them is their pride

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 20:07

I liked Floaty McBoaty, but nobody listens to me.

ranwhenparked > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 20:58

Could be worse, they could have voted for Big Red Boat IV or something.

God, Premier was such a terrible cruise line toward the end.

Anima > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 21:24

Pride went the moment the did a social media naming contest ;)

sdwarf36 > HammerheadFistpunch
03/22/2016 at 22:23

Even if it gets a regal official (boring) name, You KNOW everyone is going to call it Boaty from now on.

BoulderZ > HammerheadFistpunch
03/23/2016 at 00:16

Both of my degrees are in Geology. I’ve worked in the earth sciences, mostly earth surface processes and remote sensing, for about 20 years, academic, commercial, and research. I’ve never met a colleague who wouldn’t absolutely love to get on a research voyage on a vessel named “RRS Boaty McBoatface”. I really think the people who actually sail on and use it would be all for the name. Hopefully, the legendary British sense of humor will approve it if it wins. On the other hand, as other sources have noted recently, any place that has a First Sea Lord (really) might be a bit too uptight for RRS Boaty McBoatface.

BoulderZ > ttyymmnn
03/23/2016 at 00:27

Damn. I went straightaway to suggest Blobfish (paint that plane pink and it’s a dead ringer), but they were smart enough to restrict it to USAF and hangers-on only.