Talk:Flag

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Former good articleFlag was one of the good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
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December 8, 2003Peer reviewReviewed
September 19, 2006Good article reassessmentDelisted
Current status: Delisted good article
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National Flags

This section states: The flag of the Netherlands is the oldest tricolour. Its three colours of red, white and blue go back to Charlemagne's time, the 9th century. The coastal region of what today is the Netherlands was then known for its cloth in these colours. The flag of the Netherlands is the oldest tricolour in continuous use, but tricolour flags are a relative recent invention, and it is highly doubtful made in the 9th century. I wonder what is the source of such claim.

Propose deletion within 14 days

I am proposing to delete the section on Similar Flags in its current format if noone offers a thorough defence as to why it does not deserve to be called Original Research. It firstly serves no analytical purpose and is potentially offensive to whichever nations are being bundled together. Secondly it is not based on any sources. None are cited. There is not verifiable research. The very idea to begin with is flawed because it apparently was born on Wikipedia. It exists in the mind of the person who decided each set. I could dispute each and every one by simply choosing a different set of characteristics to declare salient. I could say the Flag of Singapore ought instead to be grouped with those of Turkey and Tunisia because of red and white crescent and stars. So how do we judge that? Which are the defining characteristics, who says, and why? Why bother in the first place? Is this a major part of State Diplomacy? Does the UN arrange the Flags in this way? Indeed, why not start articles comparing anything and everything according to how any editor might choose on a whim, and say, "Similar books" and then categorize them according to the picture on the front cover of any arbitrary edition, and say, both these books have a picture of a man, or including the color orange, or does not feature a mosque, therefore is similar ?

So within 14 days if there is no reason it is not Original Research, and I mean, unless we get a verifiable and reliable source, I will delete. Eugene-elgato (talk) 17:28, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

OMG. I've just seen the section you mean. Well, all I can say is your patience and measured approach are to be applauded. The section is pointless WP:OR, adds nothing to the article, and deserves to go sooner rather than later. TFOWR 17:34, 28 October 2010 (UTC)
Thanks you very much. In fact, I'm almost glad it is there for now because finally I can see others who recognize it as almost a textbook example of what constitutes WP:OR. But let's see could be someone does located some university department somewhere that has justified some scheme to compare Flags outside the UN HQ in NY for the purposes of optimal ease on the human eye when scanning through them.Eugene-elgato (talk) 17:59, 28 October 2010 (UTC)
No Original Research

"Wikipedia does not publish original research or original thought. This includes unpublished facts, arguments, speculation, and ideas; and any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to advance a position." [U]npublished...speculation[]and ideas"80.40.144.68 (talk) 07:11, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it's precisely the unpublished speculation and ideas that worries me the most here; it is pure speculation and there is neither solid theory or justification underpinning each of these groupings, nor any point to it to begin with. Personally according to my taste I would have all the flags that feature th Star of David i.e. Morroco, State of Israel, Ethiopia, and Somalia. At least then it's not just any star but a particular star. But even then, what's the point; it would piss of the Ethiopians and the Somalis who have been at war. They all have their own reasons for adopting that Star anyway. On the other hand someone else would keep Somalia and Israel in the same group because they're both blue and white but send Ethiopia over to the flags that have the African tricolor.

Anyway, enough ranting :P Eugene-elgato (talk) 11:37, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Gallery of flags by design is on the Wikimedia Commons. This has some structure to it and is featured as the link on similar flags on the flag template. This should be referred to if anyone wants to keep anything under that section.Eugene-elgato (talk) 09:42, 7 November 2010 (UTC)
I got rid of them now. I forgot to add an Edit Summary when I did it. No offence to all the editors before me who make the effort and amend more sets of similar flags; but I did warn precisely two weeks ago and have had the backing of two editors and no-one came to the defence of similar flags as not Original Research. As can be seen in the edit history for the article there are spurious reasons like "they're not very similar" even though evidently someone did think them dimilar at one stage. The link to the gallery has got some more objective classifications. Apart from anything else though, the similar flags section was making the Article kind of longEugene-elgato (talk) 18:22, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
about://flags/#block-insecure-private-network-requests 103.213.112.194 (talk) 12:47, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

No USA flag?

Why isn't there a US flag, or EU flag? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.181.114.227 (talk) 20:26, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

I don't think the article needs to include every flag. We don't have city flags for example. Saturdayseven (talk) 15:16, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
Shouldn't there be a reference somewhere in this article to the fact that city flags exist? Brenont (talk) 13:31, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

bayrak: http://www.bayrak.biz.tr —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.31.248.13 (talk) 10:17, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I have added a section on largest flags flown restored from a previous edit. Zarcadia (talk) 18:56, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Largest flags

Is a flag primarily a piece of cloth?

Or is a flag the symbol that is placed on the cloth? I think the into might need to be changed to reflect this distinction but we'll need to find sources. Saturdayseven (talk) 13:28, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Actually the article's defenition of "flag" is correct. I found this source from merriam-webster.com defining a flag: "a usually rectangular piece of fabric of distinctive design that is used as a symbol (as of a nation), as a signaling device, or as a decoration"Saturdayseven (talk) 13:38, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
Added this reference to the article. Saturdayseven (talk) 13:48, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
And both defenitions of flag are in the intro because the article also states: The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium. Saturdayseven (talk) 13:49, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Inspiration from Greece?

The Greek flag is included in the list of flags that have served as inspiration for other flags. But why? The section does not mention which flags were inspired by it. --Thathánka Íyotake (talk) 19:47, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

I've deleted it, it was rubbish, the Greek flag was inspired by the US flag... no countries mentioned so not of any use in this article. Dqfn13 (talk) 10:08, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

Roman Army Dragon standard

It might be worth mentioning the work done by the archaeologists of TimeTeam in the UK, making a Dragon banner and solving the roaring sound, caused by Chinese wind-chime drums of sorts secured to the staff, which also explained the odd blobs shown there on several of the source carvings. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.28.75.66 (talk) 08:57, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Taxonomy

I think you can go further, as there are clear heraldic differentiations between a standard, a banner, a banneret, a pennon and some other forms which elude me for the moment. If you treat vertical flags in a National context, then you should also certainly mention the Japanese, and, IIRC, Chinese/Mongolians, although I may be corrected on that. It might perhaps be better to remove the national references or relegate them to links to the Nations concerned.

Under flag language, you might also mention the UK's practice of inverting the Union Flag as a covert warning.

You should also expand on the stub reference in the introduction to military flags, above and beyond the use of semaphore. For starters, the British Army considers its colours as the identity of the unit, with the exception of the artillery, whose colours are its cannon, in a direct descent from the Roman Eagles. This is why the Colour is always saluted. Similarly, the Royal Navy's colours carried at the stem are always saluted on joining or leaving the ship, and an Admiral also hoists his own colours, depending on his rank as Vice-Admiral, Rear-Admiral, Admiral or Admiral of the Fleet, and indeed in Napoleonic times, indicative of the Division he is part of as well. A further Naval flag worth mentioning is the Decommissioning pennon, probably the longest flag in existence: I recall the Ark Royal aircraft carrier coming into Portsmouth after years at sea in the 1960s, it's siging-off pennon was several times the not inconsiderable length of the ship! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.28.75.66 (talk) 09:17, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Flag on the Moon

I feel like there should be a picture of the flag set up on the moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts. If for no other reason than it is a striking photo and was a giant leap for all flag-kind. That flag boldly went where no other flag had gone before. That flag is a symbol of human progress.

174.56.122.45 (talk) 05:10, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

I don't disagree, can you think of a good caption? I was going to go for something along the lines of "Flags are often planted to claim victory over something, or as a symbol to lay claim on a new place", but that's taken by the second image (of Jaan Künnap waving the Estonian flag on Lenin Peak). --BurritoBazooka (talk) 09:48, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

What is the point of the currently-uncited language "attempt to emulate the rainbow flag's success"?

Regarding the 'In politics' section: "an attempt to emulate the rainbow flag's success" seems glib, spinny, and it's unclear what's being said. Without clear citation of the individual claims...

  1. The bi and trans flags were closely emulative of the rainbow flag versus, say, expansions on the generalizable/generalized concept of community pride flags (see "emulate the rainbow flag's success").
  2. The bi and trans flags were intended by their creators to be 'as successful' as the rainbow flag (see "emulate the rainbow flag's success"), and- by the way- the success metric here is unclear and frankly suspect.
  3. The bi and trans flags were 'less successful' or 'it's too soon to tell' about their success relative to the rainbow flag- which remains an oddly-motivated comparison to include, and a hard one to evaluate (see "an attempt," implying some sort of question about the attempt's success); this claim seems entirely unnecessary, although I'm prepared to be convinced otherwise.

... this comes off as an insertion of someone's personal opinions about the relative value-however-defined of various pride flags. If anyone can demonstrate the veracity of any or all of these claims, and restructure the language so that the claims being made are more plainly stated, I invite them to do so; else, seems to me the language is entirely unnecessary. Mvseaver (talk) 15:30, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

It's uncited, and unnecessary. They're plainly derivatives. With a reliable source (?) more detailed claims might be useful at the Rainbow flag article; but not here. This is a general article on the topic. Or at least that's what it's supposed to be. Not one of our better articles. Anyhow, I've removed the claim. Haploidavey (talk) 15:51, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Original research

RfC about section "Similar flags"

Similar flags again

WP:verifiability add citation needed tag Reply

Raising the flag

Intro definition too broad; proposal of a new one

Flag edit reference fix

Notification of plans for significant changes

Vexilloid Ships

Vertical Flags

Naming conventions for flags debate

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