Boaty McBoatface: When you let the Internet decide

A proposal by a British government agency to let the Internet suggest a name for a $287 million polar research ship probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now, the agency is the latest group to see what happens when web users are asked to unleash their creative energy: R.R.S. Boaty McBoatface is a clear front-runner.

People quickly disregarded the more dignified names suggested by the Natural Environment Research Council — Shackleton, Endeavour, Falcon. Instead the contest became the latest in the Internet’s long, storied history to end up with social media users gleefully offering ridiculous names to government-funded projects.

The initiatives are often hilarious but don’t often succeed. In 2012, Slovak lawmakers overrode the public’s vote to rename a pedestrian bridge after the actor Chuck Norris. There was the debacle in Austin, Tex., a year earlier, when people unsuccessfully tried to name the city’s waste management service after Limp Bizkit’s frontman, Fred Durst.

Corporations have also tried the tactic, and the penalty for trying to play with the Internet tends to be meaner: Mountain Dew learned the hard way when 4 Chan took control of a vote to name a new flavour, and the joke was on Taylor Swift and VH1, when the Internet chose a school for the deaf as a concert location.

We have James Hand, a public relations professional and former BBC employee, to thank (blame?) for this latest episode. Hand became a bit of an overnight sensation when he submitted the name Boaty McBoatface after seeing reports of the competition last week.  
Source: www.nytimes.com