NEW BADGES!

-Sigh-

How many symbols have a chance of becoming partisan nightmare, though? Flags seem risky to me.

And the pentagram is not just a religious symbol if I see this correctly.

edited 10th May '12 2:21:42 PM by SeptimusHeap

Well I think religious symbols would be fun. Partly given how important my own is to me and how I like studying other religions in general. It's sort of my hobby...A fun night on the town is going to Catholic mass or checking out the local mosque.

I'm rather weird though.

I don't really see how a tiny little thing is shoving anything down anyone's throat, though, any more than, say, flags.

Fine. Fuck the flags, too.

There. No more flags.

One person says flags might be risky (in comparison) and they float down the river?

Well, that was quick.

I thought the flags were cool...

I really liked the flags, because they let you tell people where you were from.

I think that we should keep them, with a warning that "If people get mad about these, Fast Eddie will nuke all of them."

So one person complains and they're gone?

:(

I like them better on the right.

Yes. Probably should not have made the comparison in retrospect.

oh no

I don't think anyone "complained" about the flags so much as was using them in their argument for why religious/political badges should be OK.

I can see both sides of the argument and it boils down to this conflicting thought: We want people to express their interests but don't want to deal with hot-button issues/badges that are likely to create problems in discussions. This is a conflicting thought because the interests that people most want to express are usually the ones that someone else will take issue with.

The trick is striking some sort of balance. As religion and politics are the most inflammatory subjects in the world, those are a relatively easy call. Nationality is closely related to both and Eddie would rather not have flags than have any religious of political badges. I assume we won't have the Yin-Yang symbol or pentagrams simply because people can easily make those religious even if the intent is to celebrate their other uses.

The next question that comes to mind is "are the US military badges are OK?" because they are closely related to politics/nationality as well.

The one that a number of people are going to ask is "what about fandom/media-related badges?" There are a number of fandoms and titles that some people will go "I WANT THAT BADGE BECAUSE I LOVE WHAT IT IS FROM" while others will go "Why on earth did that person get that badge." On a site like this, that sort of discussion can be just as heated as a political/religious one.

At least those discussions don't cause nations to drop bombs on each other.

lol, true. Though I could probably find a few people who would not mind "bombing" the Twilight fandom or 4chan...

If that's how it must be, so be it.

And for something completely different, I like them below the avatar- English is my first language, so I look left to right.

I think they should be put back.

As do I. There's something natural about the clumping together of things under and above the avatar. A column in the right hand side of the post box looks a bit odd to me.

Also I like them under the avi.

^{Sigh, I knew I should've asked for a full Heart Container badge.}

It would've been a bit hypocritical for people to complain about the flag badges considering many tropers already put their nationality when their profile asks where they are from. Case in point, moi.

edited 10th May '12 3:38:45 PM by Spirit

I personally don't see what's wrong about the flags, but I agree that religious and political symbols are more likely to cause trouble.

edited 10th May '12 3:41:57 PM by BestOf

Yeah, the flags aren't controversial looking I think, they're just flags.

There's a potential for zealous patriotism or bashing of certain nations I suppose.