Anothers tartan

[David Thorpe]

A final note about the permission above. Although there is nothing stopping you from wearing the Thompson tartan, a random Thompson clansman doesn't have the authority to grant you any type of permission regarding the affairs of Clan Thompson. As with any clan, that right is reserved to the chief.

Nathan, I agree wholeheartedly with your post.
However, I would point out that there is no "Clan Thompson" per se. Thompson is a direct Anglicization of MacTavish, meaning "son of Thomas", and many, but not all Thompsons regard themselves as being of Clan MacTavish. We have many active Thompsons in Clan MacTavish USA.
Several years ago a splinter group broke off and petitioned the Lyon Court for recognition as "Clan Thompson". They were granted recognition as a clan association - a corporate entity, but not as a clan. Their website understandably omits this point. The Clan Thompson Association has no Chief.
This is a huge can of very stinky worms, and I will not discuss it further here. I probably should have limited my post to something like, "The Chief of Clan MacTavish does not consider Thompson Camel an official clan tartan." - and left it at that.

No hijack is intended here. Apologies for what some may consider a trivial sidebar.