How Rhode Island's flag differs between Wikipedia and Real Life
from /r/vexillology Top comment: This has bothered me for a while, but I never had a good image of the real Rhode Island flag until today a state senator posted it on his Facebook in honor of Rhode Island's quasi-independence day. Rhode Island has a pretty clear law for its flag. § 42-4-3 of the RI General Laws states: >The flag of the state shall be white, five feet and six inches (5'6") fly and four feet and ten inches (4'10") deep on the pike, bearing on each side in the center a gold anchor, twenty-two inches (22") high, and underneath it a blue ribbon twenty-four inches (24") long and five inches (5") wide, or in these proportions, with the motto "Hope" in golden letters thereon, the whole surrounded by thirteen (13) golden stars in a circle. The flag shall be edged with yellow fringe. The pike shall be surmounted by a spearhead and the length of the pike shall be nine feet (9'), not including the spearhead. Wikipedian ZScout370 interpreted this pretty clearly, drawing using a version of the flag in 2009 that followed the flag's dimensions, at least in its shape (specifications about length of ribbon and height of anchor do not appear to be exactly followed). Then, in June 2010, Zscout added the fringe. The really glaring mistake is that Zscout didn't cut the ring so it appeared to pass through the shank of the anchor, but this isn't something you'd expect someone unfamiliar with anchors to know. This was all updated a year later by Fry1989, who drew their own letter glyphs for the "Hope" slogan, removed outlines from each of the objects, and changed the blue to something darker. That version, with some edits, has persisted on Wikipedia since. Meanwhile, in the real world, the State of Rhode Island and other government entities within the state (both state and local) use the flag at right. You may see it with fringe, but these are usually indoor or ceremonial uses. Most of the time, it flies without fringe. State law specifying that the flag be flown with a spearhead finial is observed, most of the time, in these indoor and ceremonial uses. Both of these are different executions of the same design, so what's the problem? Well, for me, one of the thing that's annoying is that because the State doesn't make the image at right readily available, the default representation of the Flag of Rhode Island is the Wikipedia version. And, personally, I think it's a much weaker execution than the State version. Because Fry1989 removed all the outlines, the contrast between white and yellow is a lot worse, which makes the few remaining details of the anchor much less readable. The thicker, stronger anchor and larger scroll in the State version also mean there's a lot less negative space in the emblem, and the "Hope" slogan is less cramped. I'd say the major detraction I have for State version is the decision to give the anchor depth, which I think detracts from the unity of the flag's elements. But again, because you cannot easily find the image at right, the left version has become the default image of the state flag. Which means the Wikipedia version is used everywhere (even by Rhode Islanders). Recently, there was a piece of art by Shepard Fairey which used that Wikipedia version, even though he was contacted by the Governor to create the piece! Surely the Governor should be able to give an artist the correct version of the state's foremost symbol. I think it's also instructive about how we often approach flags: it's easy to think of Wikipedia as authoritative, and that's reinforced when they cite things like state law. But here we have the actual State of Rhode Island, using the image at right, making its own interpretations. Especially when it comes to criticism of flags, we need to ask ourselves "is this really the flag used by place X, or is this what an unverified source on the Internet has interpreted it to be?"
