Nectarine

It's recently come to my attention that someone has made some unexpected additions to the flag icon database.  Specifically, I've seen an "LGBTQ" rainbow flag and heard tale of a "Black Lives Matter" flag.  Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the flag icon database supposed to be for… countries and locations?  The Edit Profile page specifically asks for a "country code," in fact.  So… what's with the addition of political flags like the ones I mentioned?  I mean, is the demoscene really the most appropriate forum for waving these kinds of flags around?

I'm all for people having opinions, stances, beliefs, and so on.  I certainly have my own beliefs.  I just don't go out-of-my-way to share them.  So, when I see usernames in the OneLiner using "pride" flags for their location marker, I get a little confused and maybe even a little irritated.  As an American citizen, I've been bombarded on a daily basis with politically-loaded news about a wide variety of topics.  This was actually just about the last place I expected to have people tout their ideals.  It's almost like when people use commercial video game characters to push their agenda.  Why?  I don't want to censor people, but honestly, I don't see the point of injecting real-world issues into places where they have no proper business and/or don't belong.

But, let's swing the other way for a second, yes?  So, Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ flags are a part of the "country code" database.  Well… why stop there?  Why not add the "Stars and Bars" Confederate States of America flag for the people who believe the South should've won the Civil War?  Why not add the Conservative ("Tory") Party banner for people who take a more middle-right stance to UK politics?  How about the flags for the United Soviet Socialist Republics and other dissolved unions/locations?  Hell, why not go the whole way and add every single political flag ever made to the flag pool?  Can't leave anyone out, now!  Otherwise… where's the fairness?  Where's the justice?  Hm…?

Snarkiness aside, hopefully, I've made my point.  And, if not?  Well, I welcome all discussion and feedback.

Starchaser added the rainbow LGBTQ flag and then added a BLM flag because someone asked for it.
nyin said on the oneliner that he was not happy about "political" (vs. geographic) flags but was maybe in a minority. Guess I'll cast my vote for ISO because I think the flag should be an informational thing and not a propagandist one.
And no I'm not a horrible Nazi, I am happy with anyone fucking whomever they want, and was enjoying conversation with excellent old gay bastards before this flag was all over the place.
yep now we're on the list aren't we

I don't necessarily agree with JoLi's "let's have every flag for no reason" though. The explanation we keep seeing is the house metaphor: if only Bob's house is on fire then maybe try to put that one out, and don't say Alice's (non-burning) house is equally important.
That's not my complaint. I just dislike the fact that flags were never political before this week, they were just informational, and now suddenly they are propaganda. Might be good progressive propaganda, might be bad. Even so I would prefer they were neutral-informational, just saying where a user comes from.

The issue of "country" vs. "flag" has been taken care of.

Thank you to anyone who may have read this.

Yes, we would like to keep the flags strictly as a location signifier. I think this helps show our diversity, such as it is, and helps bring us together as an international community.

To that end, we (all users) should be setting our flags either to where we currently are, or our homelands, as we prefer. Users who really want to conceal their location can do so by not setting a flag, which produces the "generic user" flag icon, and there is also the EU flag and "Fam" flag.

Use of flags for political purposes is highly discouraged and could result in one's flag being set to the "generic user" flag. Examples would be changing one's flag to that of a country currently in dispute with another country to "show support", or trying to pass onesself off as a citizen of an unrelated country. That is not what the flag system is for.

Regarding politics, we are going to be changing our policy about what is allowed on oneliner, with the aim of ensuring that new users and minority users (women, gay people, non-whites, etc) will not find the site hostile and unwelcoming, and ensuring that Nectarine isn't being thought of as some sort of old-boy club that tolerates racist and sexist behaviour on its front page. Stay tuned for an update.