Hello everybody!

We're going to be trying something out here for the next few weeks, testing out a weekly theme. These will be varied topics, generally highlighting fields and topics which are less traveled here on /r/AskHistorians. Not that we don't enjoy answering questions about what Hitler's favorite breakfast cereal was, but we want to encourage more questions that aren't on necessarily popular topics, and get people thinking about stuff that might be a bit off-the-beaten-path.

While posting a question that fits into a week's theme is not a guarantee that it is going to be answered, those questions will be flaired to help them stand out and hopefully get a little extra attention. We'll also be collecting the best threads from each week's theme into a listing on the Wiki afterwards as well.

Flairing will be handled by Auto Mod, who is configured to recognize various keywords that correspond to that week's theme, but if you think your post should have been flaired and didn't, just hit report message us and say "Theme Flair Please!" and we'll get to it.

We're kicking off with topic of "Crime and Punishment", which while certainly not the most obscure Theme we could have gone with, we feel is a good launch-pad, as it is a topic that can be connected with almost any culture or civilization that has existed, so has plenty of breadth to draw from.

Moving forwards, you'll be able to see what a given week's theme is by looking at the top bar!