[OSM-talk] Was the deletion of Null Island reasonable?

[Andy Townsend]

On 08/01/2022 13:00, Sarp Hangişi wrote:
> Resending my previous email because the mailing list can't display html emails.
>
>> Based on that (and unless anyone can dig out more compelling evidence),
>> I don't think that the name "Null Island" has "cut through" to the
>> general public yet
> There are videos on YouTube with millions of views that are about or
> mention null island. For example this video
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c1am8NSx_s mentioning the place has
> over 3 million views, and this video
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjvIpI-1w84 about the place has over 2
> million views. I think 3 million people from around the world is
> enough to for it to have "cut through" to the general public
>
The first of those videos is 'The Terrible Mistake of Choosing "Null" as 
a License Plate' and mentions "Null Island" about 40 seconds; the second 
("Null Island: The Busiest Place That Doesn't Exist") _is_ about Null 
Island and also explains other "null" issues.

Is 2-3 million Youtube views a lot?  It's a lot more than the videos at 
https://www.youtube.com/c/StateoftheMap which aren't targeted at the 
general public, but under 1 2000th of the top ones at 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLirAqAtl_h2r5g8xGajEwdXd3x1sZh8hC 
which have been viewed more times than there are people on the planet.  
Click the first of those links at your own risk if you're over the age 
of 3...

Looking through a selection of other media outlets of various persuasions:

BBC - nothing:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=null+island

Fox US - nothing*:

https://www.foxnews.com/search-results/search?q=null%20island

The UK Guardian - 1 mention, as an incorrect answer to a quiz question:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_q=null+island&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=www.theguardian.com&as_occt=any&safe=images&as_filetype=&tbs=

China Daily - nothing:

https://newssearch.chinadaily.com.cn/en/search?query=null+island

Daily Mail - nothing:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?sel=site&searchPhrase=null+island

Replace those searches with "Bermuda Triangle" and each of those will 
find references.

Best Regards,

Andy

* though I quite liked the idea that "Volcanic eruptions like the one in 
Hawaii, are not natural disasters -- without them the Earth would explode"