Talk:Flag concepts for the South Island

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Heraldry and vexillology

Flag concepts for the South Island is within the scope of the Heraldry and vexillology WikiProject, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of heraldry and vexillology. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.Heraldry and vexillologyWikipedia:WikiProject Heraldry and vexillologyTemplate:WikiProject Heraldry and vexillologyheraldry and vexillology articles

passport/currency[edit]

The "South Island passport" and "South Island currency" were seen by me while I was stationed at RNZAF Wigram in 1982. As I was from the North Island, the "Mainlanders" among us took the pleasure of "rubbing it in" by showing off this stuff. The flag concepts were encountered on the FOTW web site. I also remember that there was a flag being bandied about in the early '80's, but I never saw what that flag design was. These concepts seemed worth mentioning on the South Island page, but there were objections expressed by various users, hence this page. Hopefully, this should defuse any further clashes on this issue.

D. Seath

Is a personal viewpoint appropriate?[edit]

As an encyclopedia, I believe that we usually strive to avoid presenting a personalized viewpoint using the first person (although personally attributed viewpoints can, of course, be represented as part of a balanced, un-biased summary). As of today, this article probably, therefore, needs a little bit of tweaking.

Editors might also like to check whether a white dragon is more symbolic of Anglo-Saxon rather than celtic heritage but, given my interests, I couldn't possibly comment...

Editors might also like to check whether the current final phrase of the lead needs changing from "Two of these designs are shown below." to something like ""Some of these designs are shown below." now that more than two (very lovely) designs are depicted.

Alice^✉ 00:04, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

"Proposed" flags, ideas for flags, etc[edit]

For every flag that exists, there are probably hundred of designs that are suggested, hypothesised, or entered in contests to find new flags (I was one of the judges for the competition to design a Flag of Otago, and we received literally hundreds of entries). Although I'll admit to bias here (I am James Dignan), perhaps - like other similar "flag concept/proposal" pages, this page should be limited to designs that have either been formally proposed, gained some public acceptance, or have at the very least actually flown in the South Island. Both my design and Dean Thomas's design meet those criteria, but I've found no evidence that Kym Parsons' flags have ever existed in material form, let alone flown. As such, perhaps their place on this page is questionable, to say the least. Grutness...wha? 00:15, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I sympathise with your possible WP:COI conflicts, James.

This is one of those bizarre Wiki-conundrums; you are too knowledgeable to edit, I am too ignorant and canvassing is frowned upon so I suppose we must rely on telepathy to get an unbiased (but wiki-knowledgeable) editor to happen by... Alice^✉ 00:26, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

FWIW, by way of comparison -

"James Dignan" "South Island Flag" -wikipedia = 116 ghits
"Dean Thomas" "South Island Flag" -wikipedia = 28 ghits
"Kym Parsons" "South Island Flag" -wikipedia = 2 ghits

It just doesn't seem to me that two hits make for a viable addition to the page - especially since one of those hits seems to be an unlicensed WP mirror. But, as I said, I'm biased. Grutness...wha? 01:01, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I take it you rang the changes on the various query permutations, James? We both know how fickle Google can be if you vary word order and including quote marks to force an exact search. Have you engaged him on his User talk:Son of Zealandia page here? Alice^✉ 19:54, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't done so, but as I said, I'm too personally involved to really deal with this page - it requires someone impartial. As for ringing the changes, "Kym Parsons" alone only gets about 300 non WP google hits, and if the first few pages are anything to go by, very few of them have anything to do with either flags or the South Island at all. Grutness...wha? 23:05, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just wanted to inform you both that I have made some adjustments to my proposed flag(s). I have removed the "white dragon" flag as it seemed to be much less inappropiate to the South Island. I have also edited the description of the Nordic Cross design.

I do hope that this will rectify some of the dispute over my flag designs. James, you raise some very valid points but please bear in mind that the proposed flag in question is only a recent addition and has not had the exposure of the other two. In regards to your design I would like the opportunity to discuss the amount of support that it has received but this is nither the time nor place. Son of Zealandia (talk) 15:02, 3 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]