Use of flags (was Re: Wiki page for country)

[Tom "spot" Callaway]

On 07/13/2010 10:56 AM, Nicu Buculei wrote:
> On 07/13/2010 05:37 PM, Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
>> On 07/13/2010 10:28 AM, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>>> On 07/13/2010 07:56 PM, Máirín Duffy wrote:
>>>> Since not all the websites have finished sites or distinctive designs,
>>>> Jef put together a mockup using flags for each country (with the caveat
>>>> it would need to be adjusted so the flags were a bit smaller):
>>>>
>>>> http://schendje.fedorapeople.org/fedoracommunity/fedoracommunity.org.flags.png
>>>>
>>>> I know there's a lot of sensitivity to the usage of national symbols in
>>>> general; is it advisable to avoid the usage of flags or do you think it
>>>> would be okay in this instance?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Hard to say.  It is really dependent on the specific regions in
>>> question.  It is better to confirm with them that the usage of flags is
>>> uncontroversial or desirable
>>
>> Lets avoid the flags, shall we?
> 
> It should be noted this is about regional/national/country based 
> communities, not about language communities.

Yes, I know. On the "main page", lets not use flags. If the locale
specific pages want to use flags, well, that's up to them.

There are plenty of places where the usage of flags is controversial,
and I will almost certainly eventually be the person who has to field
the complaint of "you're using the Klingon flag to describe what is
rightfully a territory of the Romulan Empire, stop it IMMEDIATELY".

I would prefer some creative thinking here, like including
country/regional/national community names both in English and in the
appropriate languages/fonts. It seems to me that accomplishes the same
end result without risking flames of patriotism.

~spot