Update: ‘Boaty McBoatface’ Is All But Sunk
We recently shared a story about the magic of the Internet and its ability to come together to accomplish truly noble feats.
Just kidding. Come on. It’s the Internet.
It looks like the effort to name a new $300 million research vessel ‘Boaty McBoatface’ is all but sunk, thanks to the squares in the British government.
Science Minister Jo just slapped the internet with a big, fat “No”.
Johnson says the ship needs a more “suitable” name, according to National Public Radio.
In an effort to stoke attention for science, the British Natural Environment Research Council launched an online campaign last month to solicit names for the new ship.
According to The Guardian, “Boaty McBoatface received 124,109 votes, four times more than RRS Poppy-Mai — named after a 16-month-old girl with incurable cancer — which came in second place.”
The man identified as the originator of the RRS ‘Boaty McBoatface’ name is former BBC radio host James Hand.
NPR shared Hand’s account of how the name took off:
“I’ve actually been speaking to the people behind the website,” he told BBC Radio. “It’s actually nothing to do with me. It was my suggestion but the storm that has been created, it’s got legs of its own.”
Hand says the response to his suggestion has been “utterly bizarre.”
“I read the list of entries and there were about 3,000 at the time. Some of them were really, really funny. Clifford the Big Red Boat was my favourite. So I thought I’d throw one into the ring to see what happens. It got a few likes and I thought nothing of it,” he said, according to The Independent.
“It’s only when I got home and someone tweeted me and said Boaty McBoatface is leading by 500, and then by Friday night it was leading by a couple of thousand. Then, by the time the site eventually crashed yesterday, it was leading by about eight thousand,” Hand said. “It’s been quite a strange weekend.”
Officials from the Natural Environment Research Council said a final decision on the name “will be announced in due course.”
The squares at the NERC are ignoring the will of the all-mighty Internet and will likely settle on some boring name. So, here are some suggestions:
‘RRS Mundane’
‘RRS Uninteresting’
‘RRS Trite’
‘RRS Humdrum’
h/t: NPR
