I really have a problem with this. As a flat-earther, I do not believe in the international dateline, and /r/askhistorians is exhibiting total disrespect for the validity of my point of view, no matter how fifteenth century it is. Appropriate celebrations should be held on appropriate days by appropriate people. I reserve the right to define "appropriate" in every context, and I will be asking my legislature to pass legislation to reflect my point of view to the exclusion of all others: fair warning to round-earth proponents of the preposterous idea of an international dateline.

The history of prostitution in Wessos

Seven hells! It's Westeros!

What does the Mod Team have to say about some users reporting a strong Nabooean bias by the moderators of this subreddit?

What is going on today? Has the entire mod team been Imperioused? Looking through here I see TONS of top comments making wild assertions without a single source in sight. I saw a top comment on a question about historical Muggle oppression of wizardkind parroting the widely discredited work of Fizbum Wompsattle, but not a single source was cited. The quality and accuracy of answers are what has made this subreddit so great. Can we please keep that up during this recent run of serious and sensitive questions?

When did this whole fictional canon thing become okay? I'm really just curious, and I can't find any kind of explanation anywhere.

Okay, how long is this going to last? If this goes for 48 hours it's going to end up going about 47 hours too long.

You guys just made my day. Not everyone enjoys serious discussion about The Galactic Empire's sketchy politics as I do. I'm glad I can expand my knowledge base, even if only for 40 hours.

I've been meaning to get flair. I should apply for the Watcher's Council/BtVS flair. I can prove it by my answer in the Buffy thread and my totally legit membership and publication in Whedon Studies Association journal.

Where do I file for an AMA? I might be able to clear some time up today. I will be able to answer many questions on the Galactic Civil War, the development of the AT-AT walker, and the Battle of Hoth in particular.

I will also be promoting my autobiography, AT-AT at Dawn and my book on tactics, now being reprinted with a new foreword, Warning, Walkers!.

....I really kinda want there to be a real sub like this. Not just the asking of questions, but with the "in-character" responses. It's like interactive fan-fic/roleplaying and I'm loving it.

What time zone is this sub using? Serious.

Hey mods, am I allowed to comment on some of these issues concerning the Galactic Empire? While I may not be a historian, I have seen several movies that have outlined this conflict pretty well.

Point of order: Grand Moff Tarkin, not Lord Vader, was responsible for the destruction of Alderaan--carried out on his own authority, I might add. What the hell happened to rigor?

same callous indifference that Lord Vader showed to Alderaan.

Steady there. It was Grand Moff Tarkin that destroyed Alderaan.

For what it's worth, a lack of this kind of nonsense is what I find attractive about /AskHistorians. I do not care for what I am seeing today.

Will the mods save links to the best (or most upvoted) questions to the wiki after this? I absolutely love this April Fools idea, and I think it will be a great read at some point down the line when it will become more difficult to locate them once standard historical content comes back.

History once again seems to start and end with Darth Vader and the genocide of Alderaan.

I don't want to post in any of the actual threads but I have to say that I have laughed hysterically at the spot-on satire in some of these threads. Well done chaps!

I just want to say that so far the stuff here is genuinely Better Than Canon, just as you would expect from this sub.

The history of prostitution in Wessos, or a tactical analysis of the Battle of Pelennor Fields make for fine historical topics, and are not something we expect to see reported.

Unfortunately, military history and the study of sexuality still often need to struggle to gain acceptance within the academy. I don't mean to cast aspersions, but I suspect that many of those voicing complaints are undergraduates who have taken the offhand comments of their professors too seriously.

Remember: there is no one correct way or perspective with which to study history!

I'm not going to pretend to unsubscribe as this subreddit is of high quality (most of the year) but yeah it does suck that my feed is cluttered with unfunny and uninteresting posts. I would just go to /r/all if I wanted to look at shitposts.

It feels like /r/AskHistorians, /r/shittyaskscience, and /r/AskScienceFiction all had a baby together.

I'm sorry, what? Lord Vader didn't order any attack on Alderaan. The space station was commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin. This mistaken information on such a serious subject shouldn't be taken lightly.

the same callous indifference that Lord Vader showed to Alderaan

I'm a stickler for my staff getting correct recognition for what they accomplish.

Tarkin was in charge at Alderaan.

Please, god, somebody....create this as a standard sub come April 2nd.

To be fair, Alderaan asked for it. They metaphorically drew first, being a harbor for egregious theft of intellectual property that was clearly not Creative Commons licensed for attributed - or even non-attributed - dissemination.

There. I said it. It had to be said. I'm glad I said it.

I am offended that there are no mentions of the glorious history of Neo-Zeon. However I am open to inquries about the rise and rather quick fall of both the Zeon Dictatorship and the subsequent Neo-Zeon regime.

I just woke up to see this is still going and it's wonderful. I'm a giddy as a kid left in a candy store.

Sadly, I'm still seeing new posts being downvoted. I get it that some people don't like this and have been super vocal about hating all of it, but don't spoil it for the rest of us.

Take a day vacation away from the sub! Go to the pub, order enough drinks to last until midnight in Alaska until all of this blows over. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow.

Dumbledore was my teacher for several years so if you need a wand in order to handle all these Muggle trolls ( in the dungeons ) feel free to send an owl !

On a rather real note, this is pretty good and gave me a good laugh. Keep up the good work guys!

Mods, your subreddit is impeccable in quality and moderation and this April Fools prank is hilarious. Have you considered Making an /r/asksciencefiction (including non scientific fiction of course) type subreddit with this level of maturity? Maybe you could team up with the mods of ASF and implement a strict style of post, like /r/askreddit's serious tags? It would be nice to see that sub be more like this one is today.

Wait, did I miss something or are there a lot of questions stemming from the fantasy genre?

I would like to apply for fair for the Second and Third Age of the Halls of Durin and General Histories of the Gunslingers of Gilead.

I just wanted to say I have been literally laughing nonstop every time I have opened the subreddit in the past couple of hours!

It was Tarkin that blew up Alderaan not darth vader.

I love the Beatles' song Pelennor Fields forever. Such a stirring tribute to the battle. Frodo lives with Lennon!

Paul is totally dead, however.

Hey mods check out what yall did to /r/AskScienceFiction

They cant decide how they want to respond.

Thank you guys so much for this. It's made my day :)

OK, seriously, what the fuck is going on? I've clearly missed something.

This needs to be a year-round seperate subreddit.

I wish this was actually a thing...it's hilarious.

The historic inaccuracy of the Mod statement is showing a shocking level of ignorance. The destruction of Alderaan was an act commanded by Gov Tarkin, not Vader.
In fact, there have been audio recordings now uncovered that demonstrate that Vader protested the attack and was over ruled.

Those same recordings go on to demonstrate that Tarkin had, indeed gone "rogue" and intended to, after Alderan, assassinate Vader and use the Weapons platform to enact a coup d'etat against the Emperor.

There is even some evidence that Tarkin was associated with the corrupt Jedi order who attempted to overthrow the Government of the republic in 19BY and had maintained contact with "old Jedi friends" such as Ahoka Tano who was instrumental in the early Rebellion.

Alderan's destruction was a tragedy brought on by 1 corrupt and rogue figure who was possibly acting in concert with a Rebel alliance of terrorists who doublecrossed and murdered him for his trouble.

I'm a bit confused. We are allowed to ask serious questions today right? I mean. I don't know if my question is completely appropos for this sub anyway - want recs for how to start learning about uk political history

It's your sub to ruin any way you want.

Also, April's fool does not start before April 1st. If you want to be international, go by UTC.

Thanks for posting so many spoilers, guys. Weak attempts at humor in this sub are totally worth ruining stuff for others.

I expect april fools stuff in /r/badhistory and /r/history, but to see it in /r/askhistorians sucks.

Oh for fuck's sake...

So why shouldn't I keep reporting this off topic nonsense since they explicitly violate this sub's rules and the side bar actually says to report them?

No, this is isn't fun or amusing. It's fucking stupid.

Unsubbing. Fuck the flaccid attempts at April 1st humor.