You certainly make some good points about why we should only canonize dead people.  And though, generally, I think that’s the pragmatic thing to do, in the specific case of Dawkins, perhaps an exception can be made.  I’m pretty sure he’d have a sense of humor about the whole thing (though we may want to try contacting him first, if at all possible—just in case).

     And as to this—how you say?—Meridion, a certain quadruped seems to have taken my pretend antipathy toward the reputation system seriously, not realizing that I often use feigned belligerence as a humorous stance (well, I think it’s humorous anyway) . . . but, in his defense, facetiae isn’t nearly as easy to catch in writing as it is in face-to-face communication (unless, of course, the nonverbal communication gets transmitted through that writing: “wink, wink—nudge, nudge—know what I mean?—say no more”).  I was, however, being serious when I said that I’m ambivalent about it—I really don’t have particularly strong feelings one way or the other.  I’ve just always been hesitant to join the reputation system, since I only have two to three hours a day at most to browse the archives and whatnot (and sometimes a whole lot of whatnot), so I don’t feel that I’ve gotten to know all the members of the CoV well enough to judge their relative worth.  (And I may be irrationally prejudiced against some Virions for things that have nothing to do with the CoV; for example, I’m still a bit peeved at Prometheus for giving fire to you foolish mortals . . . and my vote would undoubtedly reflect that bias.)

     Up until now, I haven’t had any compelling reason to join Meridion.  But now, I may do so as early as tonight.  Huzzah!