Those dang guards!

[Rylock]

I don't see such a "need".

This is what I like to call "Jan Mayen Syndrome". It's a non-issue that everyone has an opinion on, because it's suddenly being talked about, but nobody actually has a big problem with... and, because it's being talked about and they think it's easy to fix, they think it should be addressed straightaway.

It is an easy thing to change... but, honestly, who cares? Changing the name will just cause the same people who couldn't tell what "Guards" are in APD by looking at the stats to asking what "Motorised Infantry" is because they've never seen it before.

[the_Hussar]

This is what I like to call "Jan Mayen Syndrome".

Okay, I'm off to Wikipedia right now .......

[KanyeWest]

It's not on Wikipedia; it's referencing when people were fighting to the death over the Nordnorge island with twenty-five or so people on it. Most people were stating that they were Norwegian, but others were debating otherwise. It got to the point where it just became "Really, who gives a shat?".

[the_Hussar]

Norway?

I found out via Google that "Jan Mayen Syndrome" takes me to a website for Down Syndrome ... FWIW. Seems out of place to me.

[Cascal]

Look, I started this thread just wondering if it wouldn't make more sense if guards was named something else, and suddenly I have "Jan Mayen syndrome" or whatever, according to some smartass from americas hat.

[Naselus]

Look, I started this thread just wondering if it wouldn't make more sense if guards was named something else, and suddenly I have "Jan Mayen syndrome" or whatever, according to some smartass from americas hat.

OK, simple answer: yes, it'd make more sense, but it's not really important enough to bother, or to get this ludicrous level of debate.

And Rylock isn't saying you have Jan Mayen syndrome; the thread has Jan Mayen syndrome. It's when there's a thread which could simply be a question and an answer (usually 'wouldn't this make more sense?' and 'yes, but it's not important'), but instead inflates to twenty pages in size while everyone weighs in with their two cents on a) whether the name should be changed at all, b) what the name should be, and c) why the previous poster is completely wrong due to Obscure Historical Fact #3210438.

The name comes from the ownership of Jan Mayen, which IRL was colonized by Norway in the early 1900s. In V2, Jan Mayen has a population of about 25 people and produces 0.0003 fish per day. It is possibly the least relevant province on the whole map, yet about a year ago there was a titanic debate over whether it should be owned in 1836, who should own it, whether Norway should get a special event to take control of it after 1900, and whether we should especially add Norway in as a country simply so that it would be present to receive the event after 1900.

The amount of energy expended on that debate by the various participants compared to the final effect on the game was roughly akin to the British government spending 5 million pounds to determine the 2002 commonwealth games logo, which was used for 4 weeks and then never looked at ever again. The total impact the logo had upon the games was as close to zero as made no odds, and yet the expenditure was made and hundreds of people worked on it.

THAT is Jan Mayen syndrome, and this thread is fast shaping up into a prime example of it.