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The Battle of Wikipedia



The Battle of Wikipedia shows the different images that have been uploaded by various editors on the Wikipedia page Flag of Lybia in order to display the correct flag of Lybia. Each entry shows the date, the name of the editor and the reason for the proposed revision of the flag.

Burning the last monochrome flag in the world. Photo: Reuters



28 September 2005
Zscout370

The national flag of Lybia




17 December 2005
Zscout370

I am using the notepad idea someone is using over at EN Wikipedia. Reduced metadata = less space in kilobytes.




5 February 2006
Denelson83

2:3 proportions





5 February 2006
Zscout370

Even less SVG code





12 February 2006
Vzb83~commonswiki

back to 1:2, see discussion; PMS 355C for green as recommended by http://www.vexilla-mundi.com/libya.htm




18 February 2008
Mattflaschen

Remove cruft.





18 February 2008
Mattflaschen

Reverted to version as of 21:33, 12 February 2006





23 September 2008
Flad

Adjustment.





27 September 2008
Maggotmaster

Reverted to version as of 09:01, 18 February 2008





27 September 2008
Flad

Valid SVG.




9 October 2008
Avala

why is that valid? is there any source?





10 October 2008
Flad

Please note the that all the flags of north africa states have 2:3 Proportion, see also the previous flag of Libya/Flag of AMU. There's no written source by the government.





10 October 2008
Reisio

rv unreferenced 2:3 change back to thoroughly supported 1:2





15 August 2010
Zscout370

Reduce code





26 September 2011
Zscout370

The UN Officially changed the flag to the 1951 one, no objections on talk page for the past 2 months for the change. http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/UN_raises_new_flag_for_Libya.html?cid=31177730 and http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/09/20/idINIndia




'Untill October 20th 2011, this [...] was the last remaining monochrome flag in the world. It was the Libyan flag under the rule of Moammar Gadaffi and it was at that time the only remaining flag which had absolutely no design, no insignia and no details, just a plain green field.

There have been monochrome flags before. Morocco had a deep red flag for over two hundred years, Afghanistan had an all black flag at the end of the nineteenth century and an all white flag during the reign of the Taliban in '96.

During the last years of Gadaffi's reign, a battle takes place on the English Wikipedia page 'Flag of Libya'. Between September 2005 and August 2010 different users fight over the various representations of the Gadaffi flag. In six years the chromatic representation of Libya is revised fifteen times. The battle between editors Flad, Avala, Zscout370 and Maggotmaster, covers different interpretations of SVG codes, PMS greens, and the ratio of the flag. After a six year fight over the right shade of Gadaffi Green, on september 26th 2011, a fifteenth revision is made. This revision is the direct result of the death of Muammar Gadaffi and the fall of his regime.'

Part of talk 'Common Currency' by Yuri Veerman, held at Toffie Pop Design Festival, Cape Town in 2012

A battle in the real world




Credits
The Battle of Wikipedia
by Yuri Veerman
2012

Entries of different versions of the Libyan flag between 28 September 2005 and 26 September 2011 on Wikipedia page Flag of Libya. 
Published
The Politics of Design, Ruben Pater