Talk:Federated States of Micronesia

For everybody still confused about which flag colour is the official variant.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1NBKNCNY1C8Q82v9/ 188.146.120.99 (talk) 13:03, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

The Code of the Federated States of Micronesia, Title I, Chapter 5 gives the official legal definition for the flag's design:

There shall be and there is hereby adopted an official flag of the Federated States of Micronesia, which shall consist of a circle of four white stars centered on a field of blue. The width of the flag of the Federated States of Micronesia shall bear a ratio to its length of 1 to 1.9, and the width of the flag to the width of a star the ratio of five to one. The flag may be reproduced for unofficial purposes, with different dimensions.

There is no specific definition for the shade of blue to be used. A paper presented at the 24th International Congress of Vexillology (2011) notes that during a 2009 visit to Pohnpei and Chuuk, multiple shades of blue were seen for the FSM national flag at different government agencies and installations with the difference attributed "probably due to differences in flag manufacturers." (Lupant, Michel R. (2011). "From the Trust Territory of Pacific to the Federated States of Micronesia" (PDF). In Guenter, Scot M.; Kaye, Edward B. (eds.). Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Vexillology. 24th International Congress of Vexillology. Washington, D.C.: North American Vexillological Association. pp. 702–705. Retrieved 2024-03-27.)

Evidence for official support for a lighter shade of blue is found in the Olympic Flags and Anthem Manual, most recently the one for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. As part of its process, the organizing committee submits to each national Olympic committee images and samples of the nation's flag that the committee intends to use. The NOC then approves or requests changes. The main stipulation for the IOC is that every flag must follow the same proportions (so Switzerland's flag becomes rectangular and Nepal's maintains its shape, but with white cloth added for the area not filled by the Nepalese flag). The colors and design (other than shape and proportions) have the approval of the country's authorities. The FSM flag can be seen on page 117 of the manual with a lighter shade of blue that my graphics program identifies as #17B0E3   .

This is all a long and roundabout way of saying that 1) there seems to be no officially defined shade of blue for the FSM flag, 2) that the FSM government appears to use flags from a variety of manufacturers in various official contexts without regard to the shade of blue used, and 3) there is evidence for at least some official sanction for a lighter hue even if it isn't officially defined. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 14:59, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Confusion about the Country!

Hey! Let me tell you with peace: This is not supposed to be an offense or “any negative word” that describes “going against what people like calling the country’s full name simply for short”, but …

1) I understand that Federated States of Micronesia is simply shortened down to “Micronesia” by most people!

2) Micronesia is really the name of an Oceania region.

3) The country name can also be abbreviated as “FSM”.

4) If someone says “Micronesia”, then it can get confusing if people are referring to the country of FSM, rather than the region of Oceania in my mind.

Finally: What would only make sense to me is if the country would be called “Federated States” simply for short instead of “Micronesia” (similarly to USA’s official short name being “United States” and not “America”). Otherwise, any random person (including you) can have me think “Are they (or you) talking about the country of FSM or the region of Oceania?” 🤔! Therefore I would only be happy if the article rather said “The Federated States of Micronesia (abbreviated as FSM), or simply Federated States (FS), is an island country in Micronesia, a subregion of Oceania” to have it feel less ambiguous and for no confusion mainly between the country and region! 🙂 I hope you can understand that. Craig Lungren (talk) 15:35, 06 June 2024 (UTC)

There are many times where readers have to rely upon context to determine what is meant when two things have a common or similar name. Ultimately, Wikipedia's rules and practices direct us to follow reliable sources and to match what they use. This (along with the community consensus) can change over time, which is why we have an article on Puerto Rico not Porto Rico or, more recently Kyiv not Kiev. If sources are using Federated States as a shortened form of the county's name instead of Micronesia, then bring the to the talk page and try to establish a community consensus about this. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 15:43, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for your message Carter, but I will tell you that when I look at both words between “Kiev” and “Kyiv” or between “Porto Rico” and “Puerto Rico”, then I don’t see any problem with those examples as I do with earth names like “Micronesia”, “Australia” and “America(n)”.

If you ask me “What way is the correct way of spelling those 2 territorial names?” you mentioned, then the names “Kyiv” and “Puerto Rico” are the correct way of spelling both places in English, I believe! 🙂 Also, I am one person who is not going to dwell on context of any certain earth name spoken on social media, such as the 3 that I mentioned. By that, I mean …

Australia is only 1 country and not a whole continent containing 14 countries, Micronesia is really 3 countries and some territories, not just the only country that has “Micronesia” in its name, such as FSM, and America is totally 35 countries, not just the only country that has “America” in its name, such as USA. The word “American(s)” represents all of the residents in those 35 countries of America and not just the residents of USA. Therefore, contexts and multiple definitions make each of those 3 words confusing. That is why I will not accept context or any kind of excuse, that people like trying to argue about.

(Pss: I may come back to you on this, if necessary)! Craig Lungren (talk) 17:04, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

It doesn't really matter what you or I think is correct; it's about what do reliable sources say. The Kyiv/Kiev example is one that only recently shifted the spelling here because the commonly used spelling in English shifted from Kiev to Kyiv. Look at the talk archives at Talk:Kyiv for examples of what was involved in discussing the name change. Without similar consensus building, the article name is not going to change. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 17:47, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks again, but in short: Reliable Sources are not always correct in what they say, when it comes to certain words.

Plus I can only agree with your last sentence by 50% because it can depend on what subject the “article name” is about. 🙂 Craig Lungren (talk) 18:35, 6 June 2024 (UTC)