Whether it's a question you that piqued an interest you never knew you had or an answer that made you see the world in a new way, everyone's got a favorite thread or two in AskHistorians.
So...what are they?
As a reminder, reddit will only auto-tag users if there are three names or fewer in a post. If you have more than three links, please consider PMing the users involved with a link to the thread rather than extended it out to an infinite series of posts with 3 lines.
As with yesterday, this thread is in contest mode/random display order--don't worry about your reply being late to the party!
So while I can't say for certain, I might be the person who reads more answers on here than literally anyone else. Certainly, I find myself saving 10-20 links every week which I end up featuring in the Sunday Digest. Which, as a result, means there is a LOT of stuff for me to be picking between, so it will take awhile for me to decide. But in the mean time, as I like to do, I'm going to plug the Sunday Digest itself, as it has literally hundreds of great answers, many submitted by me, for your enjoyment!
How did women deal with periods in medieval times? - Answer by /u/sunagainstgold
How historically accurate are RPG tropes like city guards, groups of adventurers and "quests" compared to the respective eras they draw inspiration from? - Lengthy discussion initiated by /u/grantimatter and /u/Namirual
Were Dame Knights in chivalric orders actually a thing? Any examples? - answer by /u/sunagainstgold
Fascinating discussion of color and language from several people including /u/keyilan and /u/Iphikrates in the somewhat unrelated "By Mycenaean standards of beauty, what would Helen of Troy have looked like?"
We often hear about Aztec kingship, and Moctezuma II (Montezuma) is a legend to today. What can you tell me about Aztec queens? - answer(s) by /u/400-Rabbits
Koro (Penis Panic) in Medieval Europe - answer by /u/sunagainstgold
Was there really any fear during the development of the atomic bomb that it could detonate the atmosphere? - answer from /u/restricteddata
Bonus: I Like Big Notes comment on Rules Round Table #7 from /u/LegalAction
I may have to edit and add to this later, but one that I love is /u/colevintage and /u/chocolatepot answer my question of How has the way we view women's fashion influenced current feminism and other social movements?. I enjoy it primarily because I never would have been interested in this without this reddit.
I also love commiespaceinvader for both his Holocaust Denial and how to combat it and On Adolf Hitler, great man theory, and asking better historical questions. I love these not because they are his best writings, but because they are indicative of how he fully answers questions whenever he engages. Furthermore, they get at the heart of what people tend to ask so much.
I tend to read /u/Iphikrates due to the detailed responses and his ability to give evocative descriptions of an event or system. Examples can be found in answers on Phalanx Exceptionalism: what distinguishes the Greek Hoplite Phalanx from the next shield-wall of violent men with pointy sticks? and Battle of Leuctra - the defeat the broke Sparta's power and even I'm a greek hoplite at the battle of marathon who is not in the first couple rows of the phalanx. What are the odds that i see any combat?.
There was another that I really enjoyed where a number of scholars of Greek warfare weighed in, but I couldn't find it. Perhaps Iphikrates could point me toward it so that I can add it here. Of course, Iphikrates was on the ball and here is the discussion by the scholars on the question of How good is Christopher Matthew's scholarship?
Enjoy the reads!
/u/alriclofgar made an absolutely fascinating post about the transition from bronze to iron and it's relationship with magical/religious ritual
/u/Iphikrates has posted some of the most illuminating answers on the Classical World I've ever read, and skewered Victor Davis Hanson.
/u/ErzherzogKarl paints a fascinating picture of the evolution of the Habsburg Moarchy's evolving fiscal-military system.
I've been a lurker here since I joined reddit, so this is my first post to this sub.
What are the most frightening or disturbing things you've encountered in your study of history? - Much of that thread, but especially the response by /u/Stormraughtz concerning Joseph Mengele
What in your study of history has most humanized the past and its people for you? - Answer by /u/yodatsracist, and I know he mentioned it in the flaired user thread yesterday, so I hope it's ok to link this again. It was an extremely touching, well-written, and thought-provoking post. One thing I also enjoy about his posts in general is that they are very often peppered with references for additional reading.
If you were to walk down a London street in the 1890s and ask people at varying economic strata "Why is the Empire important?" what answers would I receive? - Answer by /u/agentdcf and the additional discussion in that thread. This answer was intensely interesting and sparked my interest in Victorian England.
Edit: One more I forgot about:
This bit about Choo Choo Trains by /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov seems to be the obvious choice here.
I'll do this in blocks of three so that people are pinged (FYI if you do more than three /u/ pings in a single post, no one gets pinged--it's to avoid spamming by ping):
/u/heyheymse wrote a wonderful choose your own adventure about what it was like to date at various Roman social strata in the form of a choose your own adventure. But really all her old Roman sexuality stuff was amazing (sort her profile by "top" and you'll see a lot of it--sex is always interesting).
/u/sunagainstgold is solid gold. All of her answers are wonderful, wonderful. I love her because I've learned so much from her. But this is one of my favorite answers because like.... how the fuck did she know this? How did anal probing become associated with alien abductions? is a long way from her beloved pious medieval women. I'm on here enough to know people's professional characters, so I love when people answer a question outside their professional character.
/u/400-rabbits needs a special shout for the podcast, which is great (though I'm several months behind since I work from home now, rather than commute). He also has had some great ones summarizing every and everything about Aztec human sacrifice but that'll have to be an honorable mention because I can't find them right now!
I think this contest format will automatically collapse the daughter comments, but I'll add a few more in the daughter comments.
To start with, three posts all about the doing of history that I think are truly excellent summations.
/u/Polybios with Why is learning history important?
/u/sowser with Why do Historians Reject Moral Presentism?
and /u/restricteddata with Why should I believe what a historian writes?