webspotting 11 - Dave

From the Aug/Sep 2009 issue of SCOPE, the newsletter of the RASC Toronto Centre. Very minor edits applied. Republished here with permission.

§

Next time you're at a RASC Toronto Centre meeting at the Ontario Science Centre and you want to do a little experiment, call out the name "Dave" and see how many people look up.

David Parfett and David Zackon and Dave Orenstein may perk up. I haven't seen Dave Getgood (the observer chair guy) for a while. Dave Sage used to make an occasional appearance until the endless Hwy 401 congestion drove him insane.

While you're at the General Assembly in Alberta, do the same thing, and I think you'll attract the attention of a dozen or so people.

There are a lot of Dave's in the RASC. In fact, there are 162 Dave's in the entire RASC! Why it is just plain confusing at GAs, NEAF, and on the national RASCals listserv. You can imagine how difficult it would be to follow an email conversation thread initiated by Dave, sent to Dave, and including CC recipients Dave and Dave.

It is just like the Monty Python Australian Philosophy Department sketch: "Morning, Bruce. Morning, Bruce! Michael Baldwin, this is Bruce. Michael Baldwin, this is Bruce. Is your name not Bruce then? No, it's Michael... That's gonna cause a little bit of confusion... Do you mind if we call you Bruce, just to keep it clear?"

There are so many Dave's, that Dave I (that's Dave One) decided something had to be done.

Dave I came up with a brilliant solution. He started a web site, the RASD, and invited all RASC Daves to visit and register their moniker. In doing so, each Dave is assigned a number! This unique identifier of course solved all these problems in one fell swoop.  http://rasd.ca/

Now, you'll have no trouble reading the thread started by Dave XI, sent to Dave III, including courtesy copy recipients Dave XXII and Dave XXIII.

And during the next meeting or gathering or star party or conference or e-chat or listserv thread you're at or in, you can call out, with surety,  "Hey, Dave VIII, can you ask Dave IV if he'll be at the next council meeting? If not, I'll get Dave XIX to cover for him... Signing off, Dave XXIV."

If you're curious, when we examine the Toronto Centre membership, we see that there are 27 Johns. Not surprising, on one hand. The Daves come in second, with 24. Tied for third at the Dougs and Robs. If Roberto changed his name, they'd capture third place all for themselves!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if the internet domain name rasb.ca is still available…