Sunday, May 03, 2009

I would remind anyone who doubts the results that this is an Internet poll. Doubting the results is kind of the point.

--- Josh Tyrangiel, Time.com managing editor; via Good Morning Silicon Valley.

Tyraniel was commenting after hacking rendered the results of the Tim.com World's Most Influential Person moot (in more ways than one).

Quote in context, from the Time.com story on 27 April 2009

In a stunning result, the winner of the third annual TIME 100 poll and new owner of the title World's Most Influential Person is moot. The 21-year-old college student and founder of the online community 4chan.org, whose real name is Christopher Poole, received 16,794,368 votes and an average influence rating of 90 (out of a possible 100) to handily beat the likes of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Oprah Winfrey. To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it's worth noting that everyone moot beat out actually has a job.

...

Undoubtedly, many people will question moot's worthiness of the title World's Most Influential Person. TIME.com managing editor Josh Tyrangiel says moot is no less deserving than previous title holders like Nintendo video-game designer Shigeru Miyamoto (2007) and Korean pop star Rain (2006). "I would remind anyone who doubts the results that this is an Internet poll," he says. "Doubting the results is kind of the point."