Talk:Comparison of alphabetic country codes

Serbia
SER is definitely not yet an official ISO code. Likewise, I consider a number of the codes in this table highly doubtful. Unless sources, I'll have to delete it for factual inaccuracy. &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 22:14, 26 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Some of the codes have been changed since I have put them up, but not by me. My sources are from the IOC, FIFA, and ISO 3166-1 pages found in Wikipedia.  If those pages are incorrect, it is not my fault.  I will fix this page to match them again, but I cannot constantly monitor this page hour to hour.  --Paploo 18:58, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands participate in the Paralympic Games as "FRO" but not yet as an independent team in the Olympic Games. - fchd 19:31, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Why the difference in Gibraltar's codes?
Just a quick question -

Whilst I accept that Gibraltar's code (IOC and ISO3166) is normally GIB, this article states that the FIFA code is GBZ. Why the difference?

GBZ is the international license plate code for Gibraltar, but I cannot find anywhere confirmation that FIFA regards its national code for Gibraltar as GBZ and not GIB.

It would make more sense for FIFA to duplicate the IOC and ISO3166 country codes, which are both stated as GIB in the article, and not a code associated purely with vehicle identification.

Not a real list but author's fantasy
It looks like author tries to guess some codes. Assigning non-existing codes to countries is pure nonsense. Several non-FIFA members are listed here with dubious "FIFA codes" (NCY for Northern Cyprus while TNC is used by themselsves) while FIFA assigns trigrammes to its members only. Therefore, the codes of Vatican, N.Cyprus and couple other countries are pure fantasy and desinforamtion.
 * Those codes are from List of FIFA country codes, though I don't know where the information there comes from. - MTC 06:03, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Montenegro...
The IOC code here does not exist on their web site, Wiki's IOC code page, or anywhere else for that matter. I take it this is speculation and can be removed...? doktorb wordsdeeds 16:38, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

IOC Code list
When I originally set up this page, I had included the codes from the Commonwealth Games, which has additional codes for territories and constituent nations (i.e., England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), since this is the next largest (nationwise) international competition, and stated that these codes were included. I feel this is significant, since there are already FIFA codes for said territories. So I'm changing the list to include them. Paploo 22:16, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I took them out because they are not IOC codes. If you insist on putting them back in, then please change the column heading (or add another column for CG codes), and also change the article name.  The previous edit of the article was confusing and inaccurate as stated, as many non-existant codes were added and the presence of that "disclaimer" sentence was insufficient.  Grouping non-IOC codes under that column is misleading.  Andrwsc 22:40, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I looked at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games website for the codes, and saw that some codes are identical to IOC codes for other countries (i.e., ANG=Anguilla (CG) and Angola (IOC)). So that would get confusing.  I will hold off on that. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Paploo (talk • contribs) 22:55, 1 March 2007 (UTC). Paploo 22:56, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, that's why I suggest an extra column might help. I would support a change to show 4 country codes for each row, and a change in article name to something like Comparison of country codes.  But I insist that we not merge the CG and IOC codes into the same column, and the ANG conflict is one very good reason why.  Andrwsc 22:58, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Almost ten years later, is there an article for the Commonwealth Games codes that could be incorporated? I support the name change and broadened scope (see below). — Christoph Päper 10:24, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

Flags
Which flag should be displayed here for territories that have their own flag? For example, when I go to the St.-Pierre and Miquelon article, the flag of the territory is at the top of the nation data table. Shouldn't this be the flag listed? I am changing the similarly-statused territories to show those flags. Paploo 22:16, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
 * That's a question that has spurred revert-wars on pages like List of countries etc. I would say that they should be consistent, but I don't have a solid opinion as to which one (local, or flag of France).  Andrwsc 22:40, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Highlights
I don't see them or my monitor is too bright. -- Howard  the   Duck  11:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I haven't ever been able to see them clearly either, I can see them vaguely if I look closly... Yes they should be a more visible color. - MTC 12:10, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
 * How about this ? -- Howard  the   Duck  12:31, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
 * (tests)... That looks much better, changed now. - MTC 14:08, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks. -- Howard  the   Duck  15:46, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Shortenly
I object to the use of the apparently very rare word, "shortenly". Using Google to search for it, many hits refer to this very article and most others link to examples of poor English usage. None refer to dictionary articles.

D021317c 21:59, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Highlight colours
What's the significance of the different colours? — OwenBlacker (Talk) 21:54, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Cmglee, in October 2009, made the change "to reflect type of difference". I agree that a legend of some kind should be added to the article, to explain the colours, but i hope someone else would do that (with a better aesthetic sense than mine). Here's what i deduce from his changes:
 * {| class="wikitable"

Just added 1 entry to have:
 * - bgcolor="#ffcccc"
 * ISO code differs from the other two (69 cases)
 * - bgcolor="#ccccff"
 * IOC code differs from the other two (17 cases)
 * - bgcolor="#ccffcc"
 * FIFA code differs from the other two (1 case)
 * - bgcolor="#cccccc"
 * all three codes differ (1 case)
 * - bgcolor="#ffffcc"
 * ISO and FIFA codes differ, no IOC code (1 case)
 * - bgcolor="#ffccff"
 * ISO and IOC codes differ, no FIFA code (1 case)
 * }
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * - bgcolor="#ffcccc"
 * ISO code differs from the other two (69 cases)
 * - bgcolor="#ccccff"
 * IOC code differs from the other two (17 cases)
 * - bgcolor="#ccffcc"
 * FIFA code differs from the other two (1 case)
 * - bgcolor="#cccccc"
 * all three codes differ (1 case)
 * - bgcolor="#ffffcc"
 * ISO and FIFA codes differ, no IOC code (1 case)
 * - bgcolor="#ffccff"
 * ISO and IOC codes differ, no FIFA code (1 case)
 * - bgcolor="#ccffff"
 * IOC and FIFA codes differ, no ISO code (1 case)
 * }

South Sudan
What about South Sudan's code(s), since it is now a independent country? Or is there not any of these three yet assigned? 82.141.67.251 (talk) 04:08, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Background Colors
The white and grey background colors for the key look too similar; maybe we could try an orange or something? Metsfan1001 (talk)

This is the best list ever
Thank you to everybody who has helped on this page. —Wiki Wikardo 07:08, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Name and other codes
Should this article be renamed to Comparison of 3-letter country codes, Comparison of three-letter country codes, Comparison of country codes, or Comparison of trigram country codes, so it would be easier to include other variants such as List of NATO country codes?

I think I prefer the shortest and most generic, Comparison of country codes or maybe Comparison of alphabetic country codes, so we could include tables for alpha-2 (ISO, ccTLD, NATO, …) or variable length (car license plates). — Christoph Päper 10:18, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

The original purpose of this chart was to compare the IOC and FIFA codes, with ISO 3166 as a standard to have a complete list of nations and territories. I think this comparison would be lost if a comprehensive 3-letter country codes chart was designed, but I agree that such a chart would have its place on Wikipedia. --Paploo (talk) 22:20, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

Sort key
It’s very unusual for a table at Wikipedia to include a visible sort key (in the last column). It’s usually hidden with (e.g. in the first column). Should the table be changed accordingly?

I also think that we could switch to a simpler two-digit numeric code: First digit is the number of empty fields, second digit is the number of different codes, so many entries would be sorted as. — Christoph Päper 10:18, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

Lower-case letter forms in the differences column
The leading paragraph says "capital letters indicate codes which match; lower case letters indicate codes which differ." but the actual letter forms used are ö, ƒ and ï rather than o, f and i. While the forms used may technically be valid lower case forms of O, F and I, they are not the usually expected ones.

Is there a reason for using those forms? If we want to keep them, could we change the words in the first paragraph to specify them better? --Mark Whybird (talk) 07:18, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

Northern Ireland flag
That the former flag of Northern Ireland is sometimes used for sport is irrelevant, since the column it appears in has got nothing to do with sport and its use in other contexts is deprecated. So does anyone want to make a case for inclusion? FDW777 (talk) 07:23, 28 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I was the one who re-added it. My case is that two of the three code columns (FIFA and IOC) are sport-specific, so this table is relevant to sport. Furthermore, the only column which Northern Ireland has a code in, FIFA, is one of the two sport-specific columns.  O.N.R.  (talk) 22:12, 28 March 2021 (UTC)
 * The first column isn't "Sporting flag", it's "Flag". Since Northern Ireland doesn't have its own flag, it should be blank. Since you have brought up the Olympics, what flag do you believe is used by Northern Ireland there? FDW777 (talk) 15:10, 31 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Northern Ireland doesn't compete independently at the Olympics, and you know this. They're only relevant in a FIFA context, and they compete under the Ulster Banner.  O.N.R.  (talk) 01:52, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Precisely my point. You brought up sport, specifically the IOC, in an attempt to justify the use of an unofficial sectarian flag for Northern Ireland despite the fact they don't even use that flag at the Olympics. Since the flag is only relevant to one column, and gives the misleading impression that it is the flag of Northern Ireland, I have removed it. FDW777 (talk) 12:51, 11 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Unless you're suggesting doing the same for England, Scotland, and Wales, you have no grounds to remove the Ulster Banner.  O.N.R.  (talk) 13:18, 11 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Wrong, they have flags. Northern Ireland does not. The use of that flag is specifically deprectated per WP:IRISH FLAGS, Template:Country data Northern Ireland and Manual of Style/Icons. If you can find similar guidance for the deprecated use for any other flag, then provide it now. FDW777 (talk) 13:21, 11 May 2021 (UTC)
 * The very policy you linked to states: "If an organisation uses a flag or banner to represent the island of Ireland or Northern Ireland, use that flag or banner to represent teams, bodies or people under its aegis." FIFA uses the Ulster Banner for Northern Ireland.  O.N.R.  (talk) 13:25, 11 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Another strawman. The column is titled "Flag", not "Flag used by FIFA". You've openly admitted only one column is relevant, out of three. FDW777 (talk) 13:26, 11 May 2021 (UTC)
 * No, you're the strawman. But that's beside the point; I've added a note beside the Banner explaining the situation.  O.N.R.  (talk) 13:30, 11 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Totally unacceptable to present false information, and hide the facts away in a footnote. FDW777 (talk) 13:31, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

Important to keep civil, but also to maintain policy and clarity. The flag column is general, not specific to ISO, IOC or FIFA, and so, per the policies mentioned, Northern Ireland should be blank for this item. There's nothing wrong with that, it won't be the only line with no flag. But I do think the policy position is clear, and a footnote is not a suitable substitute for adherence. The column "flag" is otherwise OK, if rather optional in a table like this, but there is a lot of sensitivity around Northern Ireland, and we need to respect hard-agreed compromise rules. SeoR (talk) 16:19, 15 May 2021 (UTC)

Edit warring
Enough everyone. As an observer watching this bounce on my watchlist, can I ask we all calm down please?

The NIR flag is included with a footnote as a workable compromise. No, NIR does not have an official flag other than the Union Flag in MOST cases. The Ulster Flag is used for sport. As the only use of NIR in this article is FIFA, and therefore sporting, the Ulster Flag is appropriate AS LONG AS it has a footnote to explain the context behind its use.

I know that it's easy to go back and forth over this. But deleting the entire column of flags just to prove a point is not the best way to reach any kind of agreement.

So please. Step away. Deep breaths. And relax. Clear head from now on, all of you. Ta. doktorb wordsdeeds 21:10, 11 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Per the above, I don't accept false information being presented as fact with the truth hidden in a footnote. So either the unofficial flag goes, or the whole column goes. FDW777 (talk) 21:12, 11 May 2021 (UTC)
 * And that is against the principle of WP:POINT for one thing. And you don't get the right to decide, on your own, whether an entire column goes. I won't repeat myself, and you won't threaten WP:DISRUPTIVE editing, so I ask you to be WP:CIVIL with me and other editors. Accept that the NIR flag is used, with a footnote, and calm down. There are bigger issues to deal with here. You've pushed yourself and other editors to WP:3RR and you know what that means. doktorb wordsdeeds 21:17, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Transkei, and Venda
Hello. The lists are great, really. Does anybody know whether or not Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Transkei, and Venda had any code? Thanks in advance. Cheers. --Alpinu (talk) 05:50, 11 June 2022 (UTC)