Wikipedia is a source of information on a huge range of issues and topics many of which do not get an airing in conventional references it is particularly useful in providing details on obscure flags across the planet that are not often featured in standard works Included in Wikipedia s annals are the flags for example of Khuzestani Arabs ethnic Somalis in Kenya the Bakonjo of Uganda the Turks of western Thrace some decidedly obscure banners but I am grateful to Wikipedia contributors for providing information on these myriad groups which allows me to know exactly whom these designs represent and understand the context when I see them aloft on news reports and elsewhere Why therefore are we to be denied similar access to information concerning the extant flag in the English county of Dorset The fact is that a gold flag with a red edged white cross designated the Dorset Cross can be seen flying across the county it is also a fact that the town council in the Dorset town of Wimborne has embraced this as their preferred county flag The design is therefore a tangible reality that has evident popularity and the full support of a local authority what factor in these circumstances makes the Dorset Cross ineligible for inclusion in Wikipedia One might argue that the Dorset Cross is not an official flag how many of the examples cited above can claim to be official The four snakes and cross flag depicted in the entry on Martinique in fact specifically states that this is an unofficial region flag however one presumes that it actually flies in the island i e it exists and is possessed of a certain popularity and is therefore worthy of note How does the circumstance in Dorset differ As in Martinique the Dorset Cross flag is not official as in Martinque the flag can be seen flying in many places how is this flag then not worthy of mention or depiction in Wikipedia A trawl across the internet reveals that there are two flags currently commercially available as Dorset flags one is a banner of the arms of the County Council which design the general public is not legally entitled to fly the other is the Dorset Cross which the public demonstrably are flying but this reality is not being reflected in Wikipedia where we currently have an illustration of the banner of the arms but none of the Dorset Cross this strikes me as imbalanced and tendentious The Dorset Cross is a contender in a current competition held under the auspices of the Dorset County Council to select a flag that they will themselves endorse The competition itself is of course worthy of mention and when all the contenders are revealed they should of course all appear in Wikipedia but the fact is that notwithstanding said competition the Dorset Cross is already flying and predates the competition and Wikipedia in not allowing its depiction is guilty of misinformation One relies on Wikipedia to advise that the flag of the Dinka is a five striped horizontal design and takes such advice on good faith how odd therefore that one should not be similarly able to consult this resource on a flag that one can see flying in the streets and all about User Vexilo