Talk:Lockwood silver fern flag

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Heraldry and vexillology

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Colours

Why do we describe it as "black, white and blue", when red is also clearly visible inside the stars? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 00:33, 4 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That's the name of the flag, and the colours are provided primarily to distinguish between the other similarly designed flags with different colour options such as Red, White & Blue or Black, White & Red. This one has a name detailed with "Black with Red Stars". So while you could infer a long description of the colours as "black, white and blue with red stars", that's not it's name or formal description. +mt 02:19, 4 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. If it's a formal name, shouldn't it appear in caps (Black, White and Blue Flag) or in inverted commas? Otherwise, it looks just like a description, but an inadequate description. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 10:22, 4 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I'm generally indifferent about this aspect. However, looking at List of flag names it seems that flag names sometimes (not always) use caps to describe colours. I'm not sure about other punctuation (commas, "&" vs. "and"), except to follow WP:MOS. +mt 21:20, 4 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's not really about describing the colours, since I've already pointed out that, as a pure description, it's inadequate. Rather, as you pointed out, it's the actual name of the flag.

On the site you gave, it appears as Silver Fern (Black, White & Blue). I'm suggesting we adopt the style they use, and refer to it as the Black, White & Blue Flag, not the black, white and blue flag. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:27, 4 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds good to me. The images have been named in that style on Wikimedia Commons, so the same could be done across Wikipedia too. +mt 22:58, 4 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

As these things are usually controversial, can I suggest we use a formal move request to tease this out? Schwede 66 00:34, 5 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Go on. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 02:02, 5 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The request, including its justification, needs to come from an editor who wants to make a change. That won't be me, but I shall be open-minded to sound arguments being put forward. Schwede 66 09:23, 5 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]