Controversial Answers

Hey Everyone,

In what we hope will be an ongoing series of posts about controversial answers on Sporcle, we're tackling a subject that raised some questions in the comments of the Safe Cracker Quiz.

Part of the quiz concerned naming the planet's Oceans and many users expressed surprise or outrage at the inclusion of the Southern Ocean. A lot of people on Sporcle (us included) learned of only 4 Oceans (and 9 planets) in school, and we understand the confusion.

So here's the deal: in the year 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization designated the area from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude as a new ocean, which they called The Southern Ocean. In some places, this area is also known as either the Antarctic Ocean or the South Polar Ocean. Not everyone on the planet agrees with this stance, but we believe it should be included as the answer in our quizzes.

Most importantly, we want everyone to be having as much fun as possible on our site, not becoming frustrated when it might seem like we're making an arbitrary stance on a particular answer.

We're hoping to continue the discussion on some other topics in the future, and maybe make a few more posts celebrating some of our more frequent answers (Kyrgyzstan and Vinny Testaverde anyone?), so check back often (or subscribe to our feed) to hear more from your pals at Sporcle.

Thanks,

Sporcle