> The idea of sending a header to remember a tech person is a great one, but I think the name should be something neutral, or something that has some relation to the person and not a random fantasy reference.

You made me laugh - this has 'old man shakes fist at cloud' vibes, which is concerning as it seems we are about the same age!

If you wanted to add a header `X-In-Memorium` to any site that you control, go ahead. If anyone adds `X-Clacks-Overhead` to their site, its not going to affect you.

The My Little Pony thing seems, from an outsiders quick look, like it does meaningfully affect other people.

Hah, yeah agreed, it's really like ranting about the shapes of gravestones a bit.

As an old favorite song of mine reminds me, "gravestones cheer the living, dear; they're no use to the dead."

> random fantasy reference.

I think you underestimate just how much Pratchett is part of the pantheon of all time greats for many science fiction and fantasy fans. I suspect there is a considerable percentage of Pratchett fans among the people running the fractal infrastructure of the internet

obviously the difference is between the artistic merit of MLP and discworld.

This is probably not a loose thread we should be pulling on the grand sweater that is the nature of art. ;)

That's ridiculous, this is a discussion abour taste. It will obviously depend on your taste.

That's pretty much what I'm saying.

There's a fun series of YouTube video essays called "The Whole Plate" that discusses film theory and critique through the lens of Michael Bay's "Transformers" movies. Pretty fascinating stuff, ranging from cinematography shop-talk (you can't remember what happened in a Bay movie because there are rules for holding audience attention and he breaks them on purpose to make you feel anxious) to critical lenses and how the same movie tells a different story depending on the preconceptions you bring in.

The author, Lindsay Ellis, uses Bay's work for a couple of reasons: she actually enjoys the films, they're pop-culture relevant so her target audience is likely to be familiar with them, they have been heavily criticized as having little artistic merit... and they grossed like $4 billion worldwide, so at some point the conversation of what art is becomes irrelevant if the guy doing it bought a mansion off the work.

(As you noted, any debate over the artistic merit of MLP and Discworld will reveal far more about the biases of the debaters than the works themselves, so what would be the point?)

Pony Time actually reminds me of the hard-boiled egg from the revolutionary rallying cry in another Terry Pratchett story.

Part of me feels a little sad that they set it aside if I understand your story correctly. Real world politics is rife with this kind of tradition for tradition's sake. It's one of the things that ends up binding people together in the long run. Compare and contrast The Black Rod in the British Parliament and their role in summoning the Commons.