Recognizing & organizing by nationalities is a far more complicated & politically fraught subject than organizing by countries & geography.
Some nationalities are officially recognized by the main country they are located in, many are not.
In Canada alone, we have at least 600 First Nations plus Metis & Inuit Peoples.
There are literally 1000’s of nationalities in the world beyond nationalities officially recognized by countries.
I’ve never been big on learning flags, but after 4 years, I can recognize quite a few at a glance & it’s a quick way of telling what country the person is from who you might choose to swap with. I think it would be very confusing for many Postcrossers if there were 1000’s of flags to identify, making them a much less useful tool.
While far from perfect, I think organizing by country & geographies is the best route to go officially for Postcrossing.
If people want to list or talk about their nationalities, they can do so in their profiles.
I don’t mean organising anything/having affect on how things are organised, but the little flag here in this forum. (That wouldn’t change the country status in persons postcrrossing).
I think that then two flags should be placed - the national flag and the ethnic flag, if a person wants that. And then you can clearly see: such and such country such and such nation. Because otherwise no one will recognize what it is.
But then exactly the same rule should also be applied to, for example, the Scots and the Welsh: first the British flag and then their local flag.
But it would have a major effect on how things are organized, that’s my point.
There would lots of nationalities that don’t have flag emojis, so why would some people get to do this & not others? When people make suggestions, the Admin team needs to think about how it affects or works or doesn’t work for the whole group, not just a few people.
And it would potentially make a ton of work for an already overworked, small Admin team.
I don’t mean others would not get to have it. (I tried to look the topic I had in mind, but didn’t find, I think there was talk about how and what flag people choose, there already is EU flag that is “unclear”).
Of course only if it’s possible. Maybe there could be a thread where people could ask the flag they like, if it’s possible to do (add flags).
This is suggestion, not demand. No time frame given from me.
I agree, this suggestion evokes wishes - if people get their own flag, could ethnic groups / regions (which also have an own official flag) get it to show here, even if it isn’t a standard emoji?
Germany has 16 states. Some of them are divided into Regierungsbezirke, administrative divisions.
I live in Middle Franconia, a Bavarian administrative division belonging to the region of Franconia, which is characterised by its culture and dialect. Franconia is part of Bavaria but some Franconians don’t feel very Bavarian, we resent it to Napoleon that he awarded most of Franconia to Bavaria.
I can’t find the thread but I’m sure there was a recent suggestion where someone wanted to add flags of former countries and the admins said the flags are standardised with a plug-in and based on an official list, so it wasn’t going to happen. This would be the same.
And then you open up the question for those who have dual citizenship and if we want to be really complicated, living for several years in another country. Do they choose Flag of Country of Residence? Flag of Country of One Citizenship? Flag of Country of Other Citizenship?
I think I was looking for the same topic, and didn’t find. I was surprised some people seem a little against this, same time when there are already for example half/half flags, that I accidentally had here momentarily So there are more than country flags already now.
If Sami flag is not “needed”, because then other “not country” flags should be here too, then: if other “non country” flags are there already, why not also Sami flag?
Maybe no one even wants to choose Sami flag, having to still deal with so much hate, discrimination and racism, perhaps it’s not nice to “expose” oneself here.
I of course know there are regions in countries, they have flags, yes, it’s still not the same to be from for example from Ostrobothnia, than to be Sami. But personally I have nothing against regional flags either maybe there could appear explanation on top of the flag, when you keep your pointer there, like for Finnish flag “Finland”.
I hope this could be discussed, or at least be left here, not to think if Sami flag was an option, all other possible flags should be there at once too. Or that something can’t be done, because someone would not understand it (for example know at once what flag that is, in swaps we ask addresses, and those who do swaps, might like to choose the current location).
Ok, looks like this thread turned not to be about Sami flag, but perhaps it’s ok.
(If you think it’s not good to suggest something, because it can open up new questions, same is with most suggestions.)
I think there was or is somewhere a topic about flags, where people asked how can they show their dual citizenship. Or when they live in another country than their citizenship. I don’t know why this would be complicated? If one person can’t decide for themselves, maybe others can easily choose what flag they want to show.
We can choose the flag we want, already now, from those that are on the list. I’m suggesting one more. Not to discuss who chooses what flag, everyone is free to choose what they like, in my eyes. Look at the flag list, there are already dual flags. Of course there could be also Sami/Finland, Sami/Russia, Sami/Sweden and Sami/Norway.
I really don’t mind, and I am not saying Sami flag should be the only new one, and others not never.
Maybe, like I think I wrote earlier, everyone could leave a suggestion of what flag they “miss”, or new suggestion thread should be for that?
Here is link to Paulo’s reply about historical flags.
Forum uses third party plugin for national flags, so if one would like to have any other options, like Sámi flag, one has to get it added to National Flags plugin for Discourse.
One can contribute to Ebsy/discourse-nationalflags development by creating an account on GitHub.
New flag options added to this plugin will become available on the forum as well.
! Maybe that was the topic where it was more talk about flags
Interesting, I found this (old) “1002 / Sami Language Flag (A) / Added to larger set / flag”
but it seems to be about emojis
So should all suggesters join GitHub, or is it enough to be the suggestion here, and hope someone else ( ) does it? I believe it’s enough to be here.
Edit. (Quickly looking I found something from year 2017, I think I am not, at least not yet, joining, as it would take so much time to read and learn how to communicate there, like is it ok to up so old thread, so I think it’s enough to have this suggestion here.)
What is complicated there? I tried to think.
You could choose Sami flag when living in another country too.
I mean the flag one chooses already now, it doesn’t show/say location, you choose the flag. I have seen people use the flag where they are from, when living in another country, it’s just part of what they want to show here. But everyone can choose, I am not saying people should choose a certain flag here.
Also to be clear, Sami flag is not a historical flag, if someone thinks so when the link goes to a topic where historical flags were discussed.
Yes, my post was about technical feasibility but I can understand your request for this flag and I also think the Australian Aboriginal flag would be a very welcome option (and obviously the EU flag is an option so it’s not strictly country-based). I don’t think we should have options for every state from every country (as cute as my state’s magpie flag is) but there are clear examples like yours where the group is not tied to a specific country or mine where there is a movement against the colonial flag.
The flags as they are right now are a quick indication of your postal system to me - which is pretty helpful as now in my country some places you send to have different prices than others. Also sometimes it’s not just countries - there are special territories that arent technically recognised countries but have their flags on postcrossing, as that’s how it’s useful for mail purposes.
I think your profile description is a good place to indicate where you belong. On the forum I can think you can even put emojis next to username and a flag can be used (although unfortunately there aren’t icons of every possible flag). Another thing I can think of is putting a small flag on your profile picture if you’d like to.
I’m not talking about something that have anything to do with postal system or mail related purposes. (In my opinion the official site is for sharing that, or the user card here on the forum.)
This suggestion is about the little flag that can be here on the forum, that some have for example EU flag, with the same line as the avatar and username, on top of each post.
This is exactly what I’m suggesting, to add the Sami flag there there are so many other flags already, so why not few more.
Couldn’t everyone then do this? Why are the flag options then given? But really I am not thinking what other ways there could be to do it for someone/some of us. Only add/increase the choice of flags.
I’m confused if I’m very unclear, should I try to add a photo of what I mean.
I am quite surprised with the negative reactions. Some people fly the flag of the EU, which is not a country or a nationality.
That said, I really don’t mind it if someone used the Sami flag or a province flag or a pride flag. As long is het not a questionable flag like a nazi-flag, you do you.
It’s enough and OK to only have the country flags.
So there are more than country flags already now.
maybe there could appear explanation on top of the flag, when you keep your pointer there, like for Finnish flag “Finland”.
