Inconsistent rules regarding nation flags

[F1-Insanity]

Taken from the 'settings page':

You can create an image on your computer and upload it as [nation name]'s new national flag.

Your flag should be:

in PNG, GIF, or JPEG (.jpg) format
about 107x71 pixels in size
no larger than 12KB
appropriate. This means conforming to site etiquette and being suitably flag-like. Images likely to cause widespread offense (e.g. nudity, swastikas) are prohibited, and your nation may be deleted if you post them.

I can assure you, that for many people (or family/descendents of) who lived in areas where Soviet communism deliberately starved millions of people to death, the image of the 'hammer-sickle' Soviet flag could cause serious offense.

I would like to know the reasoning behind it not being regarded equally offensive as the nazi swastika flag is. I can accept exceptions because unfortunately this symbol is present in some actualy modern-day flags of actual countries, but the Soviet empire no longer exists and the Soviet Union flag ought to be given the same cold shoulder treatment as the German 3rd reich swastika flag.

[San-Esperito]

From viewtopic.php?f=16&t=13#p228

* The hammer and sickle: fine (Yes, I'm aware of the hundreds of millions of deaths. But when people look at the hammer and sickle, they think communism, not mass graves. If you can point me at a survey that shows otherwise, then we'll deem this one malicious, too. But until then, it's just a Soviet flag.)

[Topid]

I was always under the impression the swastika was banned because it is banned in some RW nations completely. *shrugs*

People just change the lines around anyway to imply a swastika so that it has the same impact without being illegal anyway.

[Techno-Soviet]

While I totally agree with the OP, most people just don't realise how many died (if any at all), and how many still are, under the communist regimes.

[Collective Systems]

Unfortunately for you, those countries you speak of were self-proclaimed communist nations. Their ideals weren't that in which Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had in mind. As a communist, to me the hammer and sickle represents those ideals and the ideals of others associated with communism, and not the actions of those countries and of those incidents. The Nationalsozialismus Swastika represents hate and antisemitism; the hammer and sickle represents equality, acceptance, and the class struggles of the proletarian.

[F1-Insanity]

Unfortunately for you, those countries you speak of were self-proclaimed communist nations. Their ideals weren't that in which Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had in mind. As a communist, to me the hammer and sickle represents those ideals and the ideals of others associated with communism, and not the actions of those countries and of those incidents. The Nationalsozialismus Swastika represents hate and antisemitism; the hammer and sickle represents equality, acceptance, and the class struggles of the proletarian.

Unfortunately for you, Marx was the advocate of the terror. revolutionary terror, he argued was necessary to remove the 'old order', and Lenin put this into practise. Claims about communism being intended as good smack of historic revisionism and a sort of holocaust denial.

The hammer-sickle represents repression, terror, genocide, attempts to stamp out national/ethnic identities etc...

[UNIverseVERSE]

Unfortunately for you, Marx was the advocate of the terror. revolutionary terror, he argued was necessary to remove the 'old order', and Lenin put this into practise. Claims about communism being intended as good smack of historic revisionism and a sort of holocaust denial.

The hammer-sickle represents repression, terror, genocide, attempts to stamp out national/ethnic identities etc...

Unfortunately for you, the administrators have already ruled, and you haven't provided any reason to change their opinion, or made any point that hasn't been made in the 7 or so years since that rule was originally introduced.

[F1-Insanity]

Unfortunately for you, Marx was the advocate of the terror. revolutionary terror, he argued was necessary to remove the 'old order', and Lenin put this into practise. Claims about communism being intended as good smack of historic revisionism and a sort of holocaust denial.

The hammer-sickle represents repression, terror, genocide, attempts to stamp out national/ethnic identities etc...

Unfortunately for you, the administrators have already ruled, and you haven't provided any reason to change their opinion, or made any point that hasn't been made in the 7 or so years since that rule was originally introduced.

What about when countries start banning said symbols?

Lithuanian ban on Soviet symbols (article mentions similar ban in Estonia)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7459976.stm

Poland to ban communist symbols (vestiges of totalitarian system)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 54,00.html

I guess I'll just have to wait until those despicable symbols are recognized for what they have really been all along.

[The Tofu Islands]

What about when countries start banning said symbols?

I don't think that the ban on swastikas in some places is the reason for the NS rule. The administrators have said previously that it's more about how they are generally perceived. The swastika is not allowed since it's only major effect would be to offend people. Here's a link to the previous ruling (warning: Jolt...).

[UNIverseVERSE]

What about when countries start banning said symbols?

Lithuanian ban on Soviet symbols (article mentions similar ban in Estonia)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7459976.stm

Poland to ban communist symbols (vestiges of totalitarian system)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 54,00.html

I guess I'll just have to wait until those despicable symbols are recognized for what they have really been all along.

Well, any users of NS in Lithuania, Estonia, or Poland will have to be careful. As it's run from Australia and hosted in Canada, however...

[Czardas]

We've ruled on Soviet flags so many times this is practically a stock answer by now.

Yes, you can have a hammer and sickle in your flag. No, we don't care if it's supposedly inconsistent. No, we're not biased against your preferred belief system or in favour of one you don't like. End of discussion.