Variations on a theme - four of the 40 possible flag designs.

Variations on a theme - four of the 40 possible flag designs.

New Zealand's official top 40 flags have been put to the test on social media forum Reddit and the results point to the silver fern symbol featuring prominently.

The, sometimes controversial, social network created a survey to rate the best and most controversial of the 40 flag options.



In typical Reddit fashion it created a special section of the site, or subreddit, called r/vexillology – which apparently is the official terms for the scientific study of flags and related emblems.



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The poll is still open and only 500 or so 'redditors' had voted in the first 24 hours, but Reddit user googoloplexbyte has already posted the initial conclusions.



In first place was the Silver Fern in a black, white and red design by Kyle Lockwood.

KYLE LOCKWOOD Silver Fern (Black, White & Red) by Kyle Lockwood is the most popular flag so far.

Second place went to another fern, Black & White Fern, by Alofi Kanter.

Third place went to another Kyle Lockwood creation - and you got it, another Silver Fern, this time in plain black and white.

"No matter what New Zealand's decision is it looks like a fair bet that a fern design will be competing against New Zealand's current flag in the ultimate finals," wrote googoloplexbyte.

The poll is open to any user around the world, so it does not necessarily reflect what New Zealanders think.

The survey offered the option to rate the 40 flags on a scale of 0-9 and the average rating for all flags was 3.87.

The most controversial flag was Black Jack by Mike Davison.

The list of 40 possible future flags chosen from more than 10,000 public submissions was released last week. Critics say the selections lack diversity, vision and imagination.

To take part in the poll go here.