Thank you to all the great mods who help keep this place so amazing; their firm hand and never ending wisdom guides us through the roughest of trials.^They^Paid^Me^To^Talk.

But in all seriousness a big thanks should also be given to the community who plays such a big role in making this sub the great place that it is.

This is probably one of the few subreddits where the mods are almost universally loved.

I agree with this, and I am so glad they kept it from being a default. Also, <3 mods. They've been so nice to me! ^Someone^save^me^please.

I'll be honest, I might have unsubscribed if this place was made a default.

I certainly would have wept for the mods. The crap you guys and gals would have needed to wade through...

I still want to know why the MLB 40 man roster exists. All I got was downvotes for asking.

Default status can be the death knell for a small community

There's 280,000 subscribers to this sub....

/r/AskHistorians,

I mod a political subreddit. When we started up, we asked the community what they wanted out of us. The answer, strongly: iron-fisted moderation. Cut bullshit at the source, don't be afraid to get aggressive. We deleted the most popular thread we've ever had because it was completely out of control and we couldn't keep standards.

People bitch, they want more freedom to be careless and speak casually. But there's a place for communities where comments are expected to have content and information, and where image macros and stupid meme one-liners get blasted off the face of the Earth itself.

I trust this mod squad. You guys have a standard and culture that is incredible. And I'm glad that you're keeping standards even with growth, and the temptation for much more.

Don't let Eternal September here. 283,000 of us showed up because we like what this place is, not because we were dumped here by accident.

If there was a sort of recommended subreddit reading list, I'd say /r/AskHistorians should be there. But as a default, no, I don't the mods deserve to die like that. Good work Mods, keep it up!

TL;DR [deleted]

I think that I speak on behalf of a lot of Redditors when I say that, before we can really contribute in meaningful ways to a community, we need a little bit of "culturing" or "socializing" beforehand. Default subs are where that happens. It makes more sense for a tightly regulated sub like /r/AskHistorians to exist as a secondary subreddit, one which Redditors can find after using this site on their own for some time.

We're not small anymore...look at the sidebar, 283k subs. Keep up the good work mods!

Thank you glorious mods. Everything is fine here and we are very happy with the direction that the sub is heading in

Thank you mods for all you do.

I was wondering if there could be a "/r/AskTheHistorionsToPointMeToAPlaceToStartFindingTheAnswerMyself"

While I do not mind asking questions, the types of questions I have, I want both the answer and to find the answer. AND SO MANY TIMES, I CAN NOT FIGURE OUT WHERE TO START. (edited it and it still sounds sleepy)

We could've turned into ELI5. Thank you mods!

I'm going to guess traffic will increase anyway due to exposure from /r/history.

As someone who has been subscribed since this place had about 2000 subscribers and this place was 300 proof info-porn I concur.

The signal/noise ratio has dropped from those days, but there is no way it could not have, and there are more solid contributors and more answered questions.

You guys have done a great job of reminding everyone that sometimes its best just to ahem... Shut the fark up... And let the informed speak...

Buried, but the point that I think that the mods here understand the most is that this sub is full of people who want to be here. We think the rules are good, and we understand the mission. That's a special thing. The size of the sub is irrelevant. I don't care how many subscribers this sub has, I hope it never gets turned into the kind of place that people end up in without curious effort.

I was made a mod of AskScience 1 day before the day it became a default subreddit. We did not know it was going to be a default when I joined the team. I have since resigned for reasons unrelated to the subreddit itself.

I think its adorable that people here think 283,000 subscribers is a "small" community. I also personally think that the "small communities are better" is a symptom of reddit hipsterism, so requisite grain of salt on my opinions.

It's a damn good thing AskHistorians isn't a default, it allows a smaller number of important questions to be asked and get answered. Now if someone would direct themselves to my highly important question about the historicity of katanas slicing through tanks...

Every morning I get to work 5 minutes early. I dread walking in and bide my time reading through this sub. Thanks mods.

Askhistorians has been nothing but a pleasure :)

Just wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to chime in with the mod love. This is by a wide margin my favorite sub. Thanks to the mods and everyone who contributes.

I think this is as good a time as any to thank every last one of our contributors, experts, and smart people who have taught me (and the rest of us) so much. Great community, and great people!

Sigh. many of us over at /r/fitness envy you.

I sort of wish that /r/AskHistorians could just be its own website so that it could separate itself from reddit.

I don't come here much, but I would like to say that this is my favorite subreddit to visit. It's has the best mods, subscribers, and the best content. I am never disappointed when I read /r/askhistorians and I would like to thank everyone who contributes.

I concur, These mods should help out /r/technology, they are history over there.

I'm a home school teacher and I just wanted to jump in and say that I am glad that they didn't either and THANK YOU ALL for being here!

Yes, thank you. I am still somewhat confused as to why writing prompts took the offer.

If this ever becomes a default sub, we revolt.

I feel like it wouldn't have too much of an impact--so many people are already here by way of /r/bestof, and the mods are so proactive and strict that all the garbage would be deleted almost instantly.

It hits subs without the level of moderation AskHistorians has, because shitposting ends up filling the front page. Here, that wouldn't be as much of an issue. Maybe we'd get a handful of dumber questions, but I feel like the quality would stay good here, thanks to the quality of moderation.

Hear, hear. Default is like cancer for most subs. I shudder to think what will happen to /r/personalfinance in a few months.

The moderation here will forever be my favorite. I barely considering this community "small" with almost 300k subs, but it feels like it is when there's not poor content strewn everywhere.

I totally believe each and every sub-reddit should have the opportunity to refuse to become a default.

I also totally believe that many of the more serious subs are going to be on a very quick downhill slide if they become a default. PLEASE never become a default.

It isn't always the quantity that makes or breaks something, it's often the quality.

There is absolutely no doubt the quality which makes this sub will be lost if you go looking for numbers.

I disagree. I think this sub and these moderators could have set an example for default subs that none other could. It would have been difficult for the first few months but I think the strict rules and thoughtful discussion fostered in this sub could have been a welcome change to the "oh no we're a default sub" circlejerk.

I understand the work the mods do and I appreciate it it. I do not presume to think that this decision was easy.

TL;DR I disagree. It would be harder work for the current mods but better overall content for the reddit community that is presented to casual visitors and I think would be beneficial in the long run.

If the last day or so on r/philosophy is anything to judge by, mods here absolutely made the right call.

I agree completely, Wiley. Decisions like this are why this place retains its integrity.

While I'd love to have /r/AskHistorians bring more attention to how heavy moderation can be good for a subreddit, I'd imagine the mods would die of exhaustion.

Amen.

Somehow I suspect this is a reaction to the defaulting of /r/dataisbeautiful, where there has been (A) controversy and (B) a massive drop in quality already in just 48 hours.

Thanks for saying this well, I've learned so much from this place and I'm glad the mods and rules are so clear.

I totally agree, the best part about this sub is that is only made of history lovers and professionals. The only people who have any business here.

A-fucking-men. The mods here rock and this is an (no pun intended) historic example.

I heard from a couple of people that you were approached

Who? How does one become privy to such insider information?

Currently watch one of my other favourite subs fall apart because the mods were dumb enough to ignore most of the community and accept mod status - so glad it hasn't happened here.

Yes thank you le epic mod team. What a gem this sub is

So it's okay to have fun in a meta post?

Definitely a good thing. Default status would've just led to this being treated like another ELI5 by most people I suspect. I doubt the mods would be able to keep up with all the crap being posted.

Unfortunately, I recommend this sub to everyone.. so you're going to inundated by people anyway!

I agree as well. The quality in this sub is excellent, but I do an audible groan when I see some of the (often not very upvoted) questions that just feel half thought out and lazy. It bugs me when these questions sneak through and actually receive serious answers from the experts.

For instance, the question is something like "Could someone in this popular fantasy/ancient Roman/WW2/dinosaur movie really be able to do XYZ?" - it just feels like a lazy question that could have been adequately answered by a google/wikipedia/snopes search. My point is that with this being a default sub, it could be inundated with such lazy questions and the moderation quality would go downhill.

Agreed!

I like how getting made a default sub is seen as a curse, I was just over there not to long ago and their meta thread about it is full of people who are dreading the idea.

I too would like to thank all the people who deserve to be thanked. Best sub on the site.

If this isn't a default sub, it might as well be. It's quite well known and its often link in the "bestof" subreddit.

Wait. /r/askscience is a default, right? They handle it just fine as far as I can tell. Granted, it's a lot of work for the mods. If you don't feel you have the resources to apply strict moderation to a default sub, then I guess I can understand the decision. That said, I don't agree with the idea that default status instantly reduces the quality of a subreddit. /r/askscience proves this.

This is probably one of the best modded subs and collaborators !! Guys congrats and keep up the excellent job !!

~300000 subs

small community

Yes, this is my favorite subreddit. Hope it stays that way (by not becoming default for example)...

Am I the only one who feels that this sub would pretty easily go through default status unscathed? The mods are pretty much universally considered the best on this entire website and the rules are pretty freakin' strict.

Edit: Actually, after thinking about it and reading more of the comments, I've changed my mind. By being not default, people must first acclimate themselves to how the site works before joining, and more importantly, agree to follow the rules of the sub before joining, which puts them in a different mindset. Still, if there was a set of 'highly recommended subs' that the admins could give to newer users, this would and should be on it.

Here, here! The mods on this sub do an amazing job and while I feel more people need to know about it, Default would have been death.

Agreed. Three cheers for the mods! We all love this sub, and you are a large reason it is so awesome. You are the mod ninjas of reddit, quickly chopping out the BS, faster than can be explained sometimes. Agreed, thank you SO MUCH for not going default. While I'm sure your pro mod skills could handle it, the graveyard of comments would just be too damn depressing.

Yes! Thanks for expressing what we all feel! I had read they might have asked the mods of r/askhistorians, and were told to "fuck off".

I can already see the influences /effects in r/books and r/movies since becoming default.

Not to be that guy...but I think that reddit could benefit a lot by having /r/askhistorians as a default. /r/askscience seems to manage just fine by having strict moderation, and the mods here are pretty strict too. I understand why they would refuse of course, if it is true that they were approached with the offer.

I'm here, so you can't be too picky about who you're letting in

This might be the most pompous, self-serving sub on all of reddit. On second reading, it seems that is exactly what you wished to preserve. Carry on.

Jesus if this became a default, there so be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many deleted comments. And right now there are already more than there should be. I've seen some threads where an upward of 80% of the comments are deleted.

Edit: Wow, you people are bitches. Why the fuck was I even downvoted for this? Did you guys not like my many o's in so?

I'm glad, too. Can't stand seeing this subreddit on my front page.