Vexillology

*"me and Greg like flags. So we created #vexillology . If you also like flags and talking about flags you should join #vexillology"*

*--Cam Cain*

**#vexillology** is a Slack channel. It was created by **Cam Cain** on 8-7-19. It is the home of discussion revolving around flags and occasionally uniforms. Events such as FlagVote, Flagpoll, and FlagVote 2 have been held in the channel.

## Founding

The founding of the #vexillology chat was a product of a discussion between Cam Cain and Gregory Severin about potential flag redesigns for the City of Seattle. Though initially met with some skepticism about a potential lack of membership, the channel quickly gained seven members by the end of its third day.

## FlagVote

> *Main Article: FlagVote*
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FlagVote was the first flag tournament held on #vexillology. It featured 256 flags and lasted from August 7, 2019 until September 26, 2019. Canada defeated Barbados in the final round in a 5-2 vote. Notable events in FlagVote include the controversial Round 5 matchup between Barbados and Kazakhstan, which later became known as Rock the KAZ-BAR.

## FlagVote 2

> *Main article: FlagVote 2*
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FlagVote 2, also known as 2flag2vote, was the second flag tournament held in #vexillology. It featured 512 flags, twice the amount of its predecessor, and voting lasted from November 8, 2019 until April 15, 2020. FlagVote 2 instituted several changes to the structure of FlagVote, most notably by seeding the tournament. The seeding, known as FlagPoll, lasted from September 28, 2019 until October 31, 2019. Other notable changes include expanding the tournament from 256 to 512 entrants and the inclusion of brief "eulogies" that listed fun facts about a flag or region after its elimination.

### FlagPoll

> *Main Article: Flagpoll*
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Flagpoll was a seeding method for FlagVote 2, conducted from September 17, 2019 to October 31, 2019. After its completion, Cam posted several facts about each #vexillology member's voting habits, also including personalized "ideal flag" for each voter and the channel as a whole. The latter flag, dubbed the People's Flag, would become an eleventh-hour entrant into FlagVote itself in the aftermath of 2 Faroe 2 Islands.

## Controversies

### Guyana Controversy

> *Main article: Guyana Controversy*
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The Guyana Controversy was a controversy in Round 2 of FlagVote where Guyana appeared to have beaten United Kingdom, but after the matchup had been called, two late votes came in for the UK. Guyana was eventually given the win, and the debacle led to Zane leaving the channel.

### Rock the KAZ-BAR

> *Main article: Rock the KAZ-BAR*
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Rock the KAZ-BAR was a controversial vote in FlagVote involving the flags of Kazakhstan and Barbados. It happened when Cam incorrectly advanced Kazakhstan to the Elite 8 over Barbados. After much consternation, Barbados was given the victory and faced Norway in the Quarterfinal matchup.

### 2 Faroe 2 Islands

> *Main article: 2 Faroe 2 Islands*
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2 Faroe 2 Islands was the name given to the discovery that the flag of Faroe Islands was included twice in Flagpoll. Many solutions were considered to remedy this mistake, and after a vote, The People's Flag was chosen to replace one of the iterations of Faroe Islands in FlagVote 2.