User talk:Horologium/January 2014

Happy New Year Horologium!

	Happy New Year!
	Hello Horologium: Thanks for all of your contributions to improve the encyclopedia for Wikipedia's readers, and have a happy and enjoyable New Year! Cheers, BusterD (talk) 06:31, 1 January 2014 (UTC) Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year 2014}} to user talk pages with a friendly message.

Pretty icons in tables

Hi, and thanks for your work on en.WP.

I've noticed that you reverted the removal of a raft of tiny but distracting national flags in a table. Why, I wonder? Is the purpose of such icons to pretty up the table, because I can't see the slightest information value when the name of the country appears clear as daylight immediately adjacent to these postage stamps. In some cases the flags are misleading: can you distinguish the Australian and New Zealand flags? Tony (talk) 07:52, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

My answer is in my edit summary: their use is compliant with MOS:FLAG. I know that you are familiar with the MOS. (</understatement>) And yes, I can in fact distinguish between the flags of Australia and New Zealand (the colors of the stars are a dead giveaway, and the Australian flag has seven-point stars, which is quite unusual). Horologium (talk) 07:59, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

So you can distinguish them at that tiny thumbnail size, can you? By squinting? How many people could distinguish them even at large size? What extra information do they provide, or are you interested in mere decoration? If so, it looks like a case of WP:IDONTLIKEIT. Tony (talk) 09:30, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes, actually, I can. New Zealand's stars are a different color, and the Australian flag has an additional star. Even at a "tiny" resolution, I can tell the difference between the flags. Just because I'm an American doesn't mean that I don't know that there are other countries out there. (And yes, for the record, I recognize that you haven't said such a thing to me, but I've encountered that attitude before on Wikipedia--that all Americans are ignorant, parochial gits.) As for the flags, I reverted their removal because I watch that page (I created it), and IDONTLIKEIT when an article on I created becomes a casualty in the MOS wars. The flags are compliant, as per the MOS as written two days ago (I haven't looked to see if one of the MOS warriors has changed it since then.) Horologium (talk) 19:09, 18 January 2014 (UTC)