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Welcome to this week's instalment of /r/AskHistorians' Sunday Digest (formerly the Day of Reflection). Nobody can read all the questions and answers that are posted here, so in this thread we invite you to share anything you'd like to highlight from the last week - an interesting discussion, an informative answer, an insightful question that was overlooked, or anything else.

But then there is the stuff that doesn't even try. The various comments from users who show up from /r/All having no idea what the subreddit is, the ones browsing on the App where the interface does a terrible job reminding you which subreddit you are in, or the occasional jerk who wants to cause trouble. We remove these too, but can spend a lot less time on providing guidance about what they are!

Jokes

We don't allow joke posts here. Simple as that. A good answer which includes humor is acceptable, and encouraged even, but the jokes should just be decoration for something that otherwise follows the rules about an answer. If you post a comment that is only a joke, it will be removed, and you will be warned. We have no interest in allowing threads to feature that content and force good answers to compete with it for attention.

Digression

Replying to an answer is usually appreciated, but, we expect those replies to relate to the topic, and to make a meaningful contribution to the content. Follow-up questions are fine, further expansion is fine, "Thank You" posts are usually fine too as noted below, but if things start to get off topic, the mods will nip it in the bud. This isn't a general discussion subreddit. We don't need chains of comment reminiscing about your favorite childhood vacation or swapping pictures of your puppers. If you want to post something like that, please hold onto it, and remember to share every Friday in the 'Free-for-All' thread instead!

Clutter

If you think the question is interesting, great! Upvote it, but please don't post "What an interesting question!" If you have a question about the rules, please reach out to us via Modmail, or create a META thread, but we try to keep that discussion to a minimum in an active thread as it can quickly derail the thread, which is unfair to the OP. Please don't summon RemindMe Bot with a comment in the thread. There is a pre-filled link provided by Automod every time!

Although if you are posting them, you probably aren't the kind of person who reads these Roundtables, nevertheless it should be pointed out that anyone who posts "Where are the comments?" earns our special dislike! The Automod comment we sticky to every thread makes it pretty clear, and if you don't have that patience to read that, well... You don't have much grounds to argue when you get a temporary ban for it as a warning.

A Special Note On "Thank You"

Posting something as simple as "Thank You" as a reply to an answer can mean a lot to someone who possibly spent hours working on the piece. A few words go a long way, and we very much encourage the thanking of contributors! But, with that said, we do try to balance this with the way in which excessive small comments can make the main content harder to fine. Some popular answers might have 20+ such replies which take up several pages while scrolling, and that can be a major negative for the reading experience as you try to find the actual follow-up content.

The first few "Thank You" comments will always be approved, as will ones from the OP of the question, and those which add a bit more heart and soul about what the answer meant to them, but if you see a 'Thank You' post already up, please consider upvoting that one rather than adding your own. It helps cut down on the clutter and make the thread overall more readable. If you really want to say it yourself, consider doing it as part of a larger follow-up question, or to otherwise engage deeper with the comment.

No Bots

We ban bots on sight. If you have a bot which you believe can offer a service for the subreddit which can be actually meaningful, please reach out to us before you unleash it. We have made exceptions before, but please ask first.

No Novelty Accounts

While we have used novelty accounts in the past for April Fools, this is only allowed with explicit mod approval, and those accounts can't post otherwise either. If you post out of character, that is fine if you follow the rules, but please drop the schtick in our subreddit.

Moderator's Discretion

This is both a small rule, and a big rule. As we close out the rules page to note:

The above should not be taken to be an absolute list of moderator powers constraining all other action. The moderation team exists to enforce both the rules and the spirit of the subreddit, and may, at times, need to make judgement calls on issues that exist in the grey, undefined areas.

The point is that we are running a community here, and we have a vision for it. The rules page is intended to put that vision into words and provide guidance for what is expected of users, but it can't account for every single scenario. Mods sometimes have to make judgement calls, and you are welcome to appeal that of course, but don't try to rules lawyer us or find loopholes for the sake of arguing about it. Being right, but being an asshole, still makes you an asshole, don't forget.

You can find the rest of this Rules Roundtable series here

Josho Brouwers wrote a PhD thesis on Early Greek warfare, in which the Homeric poems and Early Greek art were integral components. He has also taught courses on ancient Greek mythology, Homer, and the Trojan War, and wrote Henchmen of Ares: Warriors and Warfare in Early Greece (2013) as well as another book (in Dutch) on Greek mythology. He is editor-in-chief of Ancient World Magazine.

Roel Konijnendijk is a historian of Classical Greek warfare and historiography, and the author of Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History (2018). He is currently a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University, studying the long history of scholarship on Greek warfare.

Ask us anything!