10 ms·
Good luck selling plushies, apparel, comics or animated cartoons of lil' fun Sir David Attenborough! Now instead of having the dream name for science outreach a
by JorgeGT 10y ago
Good luck selling plushies, apparel, comics or animated cartoons of lil' fun Sir David Attenborough! Now instead of having the dream name for science outreach and awareness for kids, you have a stark, cynical lesson on democracy.
- cm2012 10y agoIf they kept the name, they would have had positive public attention for years. Now they get nothing...
- JorgeGT 10y agoEverytime they visited a port could have been, "Hey, Boaty McBoatface is coming to port this Saturday! Why don't you bring your kids to a fun science tour?". This is probably the first time that an open Internet poll has finally chosen a name that is fun and kid-friendly instead of "Hitler did nothing wrong" and they have decided to waste all the PR potential.
- gaius 10y ago"Adults don't take this seriously and neither should you" I'm being downvoted for this but trust me, that is the message teenagers would takeaway from the name Boaty McBoatface.
- tombrossman 10y agoI'll upvote because it's a fair point but I think it could use more nuance. Here's an example: "The scientists on this ship have a sense of humour and are fun people" meaning that while they take the science seriously, the are approachable and not too worried about what you call their ship. Also, Sir David Attenborough is a national treasure and while I would have preferred the funny name, this is a very solid alternative.
- liveoneggs 10y agowho cares what teenagers think?
- gaius 10y agoPeople who say the name will get kids into science. It really won't, it will have the opposite effect. And this is obvious, so it's disingenuous to claim that was their reason for voting for it.
- fossuser 10y agoIt may be obvious to you because you already think that's the case, but it isn't obvious. My anecdotes and general 'intuition' (as unscientific as these things always are) are opposite to yours. I think it'd be viewed positively and wouldn't have the opposite effect as you suggest.
- lucozade 10y agoI'm not sure I know anyone who voted for it in order to make children interested in it. They voted because they thought it was amusing. However, my children, many of their friends and some of their teachers are now aware that the UK is commissioning a polar research vessel. They definitely weren't before. I know of at least one junior school science teacher who has used this to seed a lesson. It's a point of interest, it's the start of a conversation. It gives science a different angle and a bit of colour. This is a good thing even if it was by accident. Sometimes we should just take the hand we were dealt and play it.
- zeristor 10y agoDo you mean they're using an ice breaker as an ice breaker to start conversations? A rather impressive video [0] of RRS Sir Ernesto Shackleton being droned. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbywX37mumc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbywX37mumc
- justratsinacoat 10y ago
- JorgeGT 10y agoTeenagers love when the people of the internet goes viral and manages to collectively upset/ridicule The Man. Conversely, they really really hate when government bureaucrats show them that democracy can be a farce and people's choices are worthless. Teenagers are on a complicated phase of life where adults ask them their opinions as if they were adults too, but then when they don't like the answers, use their power to override them. Which is exactly what transpires of this whole process.
- visakanv 10y agoThis is totally true. I still have strong memories of being passionate about being social activism, etc and then getting frustrated at being blocked over and over again (by school, govt bodies, etc).
- yarou 10y agoA docile, numb, and drugged population is the holy trinity for authoritarians.
- gaius 10y agoTnis was not "the people", it was bored wind-up merchants on Reddit and Twitter. The lesson that those people should be ignored can only be a good thing.
- sangnoir 10y ago> Tnis was not "the people", it was bored wind-up merchants on Reddit and Twitter. The lesson that those people should be ignored can only be a good thing. Yes, let's ignore the people who bother to vote because they are not the right sort of people. Instead, we'll do what our idea of a 'rational' voter would want /s
- icebraining 10y agoThen why do an internet poll at all? Nobody would be complaining if NERC had just decided on the name by themselves. By launching the poll and then reneging on it, they just look foolish for failing to predict an obvious outcome, and somewhat petty for not owning up to it. And as I pointed out in an earlier thread, it's not like the Royal Navy ships never had playful names; some past examples include the HMS Speedy, HMS Child's Play, HMS Happy Entrance and HMS Arrogant (later renamed HMS Insolent).
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoWhy not the message "you can have fun and do serious work". Mind you the current outcome is more "adults don't take public opinion seriously".
- kingkawn 10y agowe must keep up the performance of propriety for the sake of teaching teenagers how to teach teenagers.
- partiallypro 10y agoOr Scientists aren't a bunch of stiffs and can have fun too, because it's a fun profession...that more people should get into.
- hartpuff 10y agoI lost a boatload of karma last time this showed up by daring to suggest it was ridiculous to give a $300 million scientific research vessel a deliberately stupid name that even the guy - who is not a teenager, like most of the people here droning on about what teenagers want - who came up with it for a laugh doesn't think should be used. All you're going to do talking sense here is lose karma from self-styled non-serious people who actually seem to take this issue very seriously indeed. Edit: And as if right on cue, the cry-babies abuse their 500+ karma again... Hahaha.
- rfrey 10y ago"Adults don't take this seriously and neither should you" Alternately: "Your suspicions are correct. There is no room for fun or playfulness in Science."
- dragonwriter 10y ago> Everytime they visited a port could have been, "Hey, Boaty McBoatface is coming to port this Saturday! Why don't you bring your kids to a fun science tour?". Since the research vessels advanced submersible ROV is being named "Boaty McBoatface", they still essentially can, though to be as accurate it would have to be "Hey, Boaty McBoatface is coming to port this Saturday onboard the Sir David Attenborough! Why don't you bring your kids to a fun science tour?".
- tremon 10y agoIf I understand the article correctly, the submersible will simply be named "Boaty" though. Possibly because the entire name won't fit on its hull.
- johan_larson 10y agoOr if not that name, then some other irreverent choice. RSS I Like Big Boats & I Cannot Lie was my personal favourite. RSS It's Bloody Cold Here was good too.
- godshatter 10y agoThese names remind of the names of Ship Minds in an Iain M Banks Culture novel.
- dredmorbius 10y agoThe ROV is (or will be) named "Boaty". I agree though and hhave argued that the campaign was genius -- inspired or accidental. You can't buy this kind of publicity. Especially for science.
- sandworm101 10y agoKids are great, but they also want to appeal to young people who aren't still five. Silly names aren't a great marketing tool for pulling in recent college graduates or dedicated sailors.
- Aeolos 10y agoAnd who do you think voted for Boaty McBoatface? College students or 5 year olds?
- tfm 10y agoWhat's in a name? That which we call a boat etc etc. "Silly" isn't necessarily a bad thing, although the term does seem to be used pejoratively. As for recent college graduates, they might well take a look at the swift mending hands of bureaucracy in this situation, and draw some pretty accurate conclusions about the stiff deeply unsilly hierarchy under which they'd be working.
- JorgeGT 10y agoI would say that the fact that this is now the top story on HN, a place notoriously not populated by 5-year-olds, offers anecdotal evidence on the contrary. In a more serious response, as a young researcher, let me assure you that when a position opens on a superb research facility such as this, we would fight for it even if it was called the RSS Hitler Did Nothing Wrong. The PR main target here is not researchers/employees, it is the public and specially kids.
- nekopa 10y agoBut it may make a 5 year old want to go into those fields. I think this boat has many decades of service ahead of it.
- gremy0 10y agoI don't think any 'dedicated sailor' is silly enough to choose their next job based on the name of the boat.
- hkjgkjy 10y agoRemember that you can be playful without being childish - young and old both embrace that
- sheraz 10y agoIs this sarcasm?
- xexers 10y agoNo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Splashy_Pants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Splashy_Pants > After their initial reluctance Greenpeace embraced the result of the popular vote and used the name at the center of its campaign. The added publicity, at no cost to Greenpeace, gave it enough impact to convince the Japanese government, and the plan to hunt Humpback whales was abandoned in December 2007. > In Campaign Magazine, advertising guru Russell Davies praised Greenpeace's handling of the campaign as "one of the defining moments in New Media marketing." The name has since spawned clothing, logos, flashvideos, and the slogan "Save Mister Splashy Pants."
- sheraz 10y agoWow. Thank you for the link. Interesting story with a happy ending, I suppose. Then there is this: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/04/25/trump-elementary-hitler-school-robert-lee-among-top-name-austin-texas-school/83514532/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/04/25/tru...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- cies 10y ago> Now instead of having the dream name for science outreach and awareness for kids, you have a stark, cynical lesson on democracy. Well said. A "cynical lesson on democracy", and the hollow term is currently is (and maybe always was).
- megablast 10y agoMore likely it would have been forgotten about in 3 months. The internet is fickle. Remember snakes on a plane?
- visakanv 10y agoI still fondly remember Mister Splashy Pants, and it's been almost 10 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Splashy_Pants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Splashy_Pants
- wnevets 10y ago>Remember snakes on a plane? yes. Using extremely famous memes only proves the effects they have had on our culture.
- imgabe 10y agoWhat effect are you referring to other than "Oh yeah, I remember that thing that time" ?
- wnevets 10y agohow else would you describe pop culture?
- imgabe 10y agoPop culture can and does change cultural norms and expectations. A famous example is All in the Family changing the conversation around race relations by showing a representative of the "old guard" having his mind slowly changed on the show. It was one factor that made relating to people from other races seem more "normal" than it had before.
- mkempe 10y agoMy daughter is 7 -- her hero is David Attenborough. She has in her bedroom a frame with the letter she received from him. He's been her hero since she was 4.
- raldi 10y agoEveryone's missing the solution that would please everyone: just have Attenborough change his name.
- Zikes 10y agoI could listen to Davey McDaveface talk about rare birds for hours.
- uremog 10y agoSir Davey McDaveface, even.
- chris_wot 10y agoI just thought they were making fun of David Attenborough. I don't think it's very nice to say someone has a boat face. Incidentally, I think that the boat isn't long enough to have his full name with honorifics painted on the side. It is David Frederick Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS FLS FZS FSA.
- zodPod 10y agoOMFG lol! Davey McDaveface!
- shoveljump 10y agoDownvotey McDownvoteface.
- goffley3 10y agoCouldn't have said it better.
- elcapitan 10y agoThe fast feedback loops of online participation have always been the best measure to correct romantic views on the relation of democracy and governance. It seems like every online generation needs to learn the lesson that established systems of decisionmaking are there for a reason. That way they always transition from "everybody can come in, everybody can participate, everything is transparent, we're completely free in all decisions, let's create a new world" to "ok yeah we live in an existing world with rules and social order and we need to somehow reflect that in digital form just as well. sorry!".
- x2398dh1 10y agoWhy are you equating what was really a suggestion box to democracy? Isn't it really more of a tale of the UK Science Minister being better at saving public face rather than following empirical evidence? Another way of looking at the situation is - the UK Science Minister is hired to fill a spot, and make science seem, "serious," and have "authority," so that the general public feels that their tax dollars are going to something worthwhile. That would actually mean that in a sense, democracy is prevailing, because the majority of society would rather abstract away the details of science, they just see it as some authority which brings, "good things." I'm not talking about people on the internet who vote on social media, I'm talking about everyone--including that grandma in Scotland who is not on the internet at all. For those who are strictly practicing empirical data collection, who dare I say, are better pure scientists within the online data collection domain, they may say, "this result had the most votes, so therefore this is the name which wins." But if you're the UK Science Minister, you likely are afraid of losing your job, and afraid of a blowback, knowing that a lot of people will reject that name and have never heard of this voting system. He/she likely is aware of the plushy toy opportunity, but has evaluated that and it pales in comparison to how much money the British Government could continue to get from taxpayers. In effect what you are saying is that you could do a better job than him in evaluating where money comes from for these types of endeavors. According to your logic we should all feel cynical and contemptuous that Mountain Dew is not now named, "Hitler Did Nothing Wrong."
- lisper 10y ago> make science seem, "serious," Why does science need to seem serious? The Mythbusters tremendously advanced the cause of science, and they did it in no small part by not taking themselves too seriously.
- dbcurtis 10y agoYour comment makes me envision a large research vessel exploding at sea in a giant fireball.... :/
- squeaky-clean 10y ago
- imgabe 10y agoI think you are seriously underestimating the demand for Sir David Attenborough plushies. The dude is up there with Neil Degrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan with the I Fucking Love Science crowd pantheon of science fandom.
- BellsOnSunday 10y agoMost British people have never heard of those two but Attenborough is about as recognisable as the Queen and with far more positive associations. He has been on the telly since the 1950s and his broadcasting is part of the shared culture, like the footage of him hanging out with gorillas...Less of a thing nowadays of course, but if you are British and old enough to remember when there were only a couple of TV channels, Attenborough is the Don.
- beat 10y agoSir Attenborough is a wonderful choice, and I'm quite happy they named a research vessel after him. But Boaty McBoatface was a wonderful choice, too, and I'm very disappointed it was overruled by the fuddy-duddy bureaucrats.
- foldr 10y agoAlthough I wouldn't want to encourage anyone to take the conventions surrounding the last vestiges of the feudal system too seriously, it's either "Sir David" or "Sir David Attenborough".