2 Faroe 2 Islands

*"2faroe2islands was just a travesty"*

*--Andrew Beaudoin*

**2 Faroe 2 Islands** was a controversy in #vexillology during FlagVote 2. The incident happened when it was discovered that the flag of Faroe Islands was included twice in Flagpoll and was thus included twice in the bracket, with two different seedings. There was much debate and many polls about what the response should be. Eventually, one of the iterations of the Faroe flag was replaced with the People's Flag.

## Background

### FlagVote 1

The flag of the Faroe Islands had a successful and uncontroversial run in the first FlagVote. It handily defeated Tuvalu in the first round and Kosovo in the second before falling to Sweden 4-3 in the third round. It was included only once in the first FlagVote. No mention of the flag was made at any point outside of the three matchups.

### Pre-Flagpoll

Prior to Flagpoll, in the flag wrangling stage, Cam created a list of 512 flags which would be voted on in the second tournament. This included the 256 flags from the first tournament and 256 new ones. Due to the amount of quick typing involved, Cam would often use shortened names for countries. This often confused him, as he wasn't always sure which name corresponded to which flag, and which flags were already on his list. For example, the spreadsheet included 'maurit,' which could have realistically stood for Mauritius or Mauritania. In the creation of this sheet, which was eventually randomized and used for Flagpoll, Cam had included an entry called 'faroe' and another called 'faroe islands,' both of which referred to the same flag.

## Flagpoll

The first iteration, which we'll call Faroe, was included as part of Flagpoll 14 on 10-11-19. It received an average score of 7.4, with Yuki giving it a 10. No comments were made about the flag, as discussion mostly centered around Sully's 5 for the flag of Milwaukee. The second iteration, or Faroe Islands, was included in Flagpoll 27, which due to the name Flagpoll 15 being used twice was actually the 28th Flagpoll. The duplicate Faroe was not mentioned in the channel, as conversation revolved around Andrew's dislike for the Scotland flag and Laos receiving 5s for its first five votes. In this round, the Faroe Islands received a 6.9, with only three voters giving it the same score both times. 'Faroe' ended up as the 34th seed, while 'Faroe Islands' got the 93rd seed.

## Discovery

At 12:01 AM on 11-21-19, shortly after opening the first round matchup between Cumberland and Jersey, Cam discovered his error. With it being past midnight, not many people noticed right away. Cam left a comment detailing the options as "Replace one of them with the People’s Flag," "Remove one of them entirely and give the opponent a bye," and "Leave it in and hope for the best." Cam, Greg, and Yuki all reacted for the first option, but Andrew defended the third option, hoping for a Faroe Islands v. Faroe Islands matchup down the line. This was a position he would maintain throughout the controversy. With little in the way of input, Cam opened the next matchup, between New Mexico and Grand Bassa County.

## Controversy

Following New Mexico's sweep, Cam opened up a new and more formal poll at 3:33 PM on November 21st. Cam, Greg, and Yuki all voted to replace one flag with the People's Flag. Andrew, Conor, and Alex voted to do nothing, while Sully voted initially to remove one of the versions entirely and give its first round opponent a bye. Andrew argued that removing or replacing a flag would mess up the seeding and integrity of the tournament. He also wondered how we would choose which flag would be replaced, as neither had been voted on yet. With Sully now being the tiebreaking vote, he reluctantly decided he would rather have one of the flags replaced.

Next on the agenda was determining which flag would be replaced. Cam submitted another poll at 4:08 PM. With a 6-0 vote and Andrew abstaining, it was determined that the lower seeded flag would be the one replaced. However, the controversy was not over. Andrew declared that "the vote was done in an improper fashion" and that the remainder of the group had pressured Sully into changing his vote, comparing the situation to Rock the KAZ-BAR. Greg, humoring Andrew, decided a new poll was in order, this time excluding the removal option. It was prior to this poll that Greg coined the phrase "2faroe2islands This worked against Andrew, as with a 6-1 vote the group decided to replace one with the People's Flag with Andrew as the lone dissenting vote.

At 4:42, Cam submitted one final poll, this time asking what the second Faroe Islands flag should be replaced with. He gave an option for the People's Flag and an option for anything else. There were five votes for the People's Flag, while Andrew submitted a vote for Faroe Islands. The 93rd seeded Faroe Islands was replaced by the People's Flag, which was given a ceremonial seeding of X, as it had not been voted on in Flagpoll. The following morning, Cam began the next matchup, Alaska v. Lofa County, a 6-0 sweep for Alaska.

## Aftermath

Two days later, Faroe Islands won its opening round matchup against Libya (1977-2011), and no mention of the controversy was made. It then defeated Senegal and Hamilton before an upset loss to Fukuoka in the 4th round. Greg referred to it as "the flag so nice we voted on it twice" and mentioned the controversy in its eulogy.

The People's Flag defeated Weert in the first round and Thailand in the second round before falling to Trinidad and Tobago in the third. Its eulogy made mention of the circumstances that led to it being in the bracket.

2 Faroe 2 Islands has been mentioned several times in the years since when reminiscing FlagVote 2.

Similarities to 2 Faroe 2 Islands were drawn in FlagPoll 2 during the St. Petersburgate Controversy, with Andrew falling on the same side of the issue once more.

## FlagVote 3

In a shocking twist, Cam and Greg intentionally included the flag of Faroe Islands twice in Flagpoll 2, with the designated original Faroe receiving a 6.9 and the secret second Faroe receiving a 6.8. In FlagVote 3, the two flags, both given the 137 seed, squared off against each other in a bonus first round matchup. The original Faroe won in a thrilling 6-5 matchup. The following eulogy was given for 2 Faroe 2 Islands.

### Eulogy

*By Cam Cain*

2 Faroe 2 Islands is the flag of Faroe Islands… but a second time

It all began in the original Flagpoll, where I accidentally included the Faroe Islands twice out of our 512 flags. It caused a whole big hubbub which you can read about **here**

The second Faroe Islands flag was not included in FlagVote 2, but it was included in FlagVote 3 as a bonus 769th flag in hopes that it could make a run. It did not

The Faroe Islands consist of 18 major islands and 779 islands in total. The second largest of these islands, or the 2Faroe, is Eysturoy, which translates to East Island.

Eysturoy is home to Slættaratindur, the highest peak in the archipelago. The island is also home to Bakkafrost, the largest company in the Faroes and 8th largest fishing company in the world.

The eastern edge of the island is designated an Important Bird Area, which is just a delightful term