I like this sub, but there are many good questions from interested enquirers that go unanswered because no one with the time, inclination and knowledge is available to answer them in sufficient detail or with sufficient supporting evidence.
I wonder if we could have a rule which states that usual moderating standards apply for the first two weeks (or maybe one week, even). After that, if the question has not been answered by someone who is qualified to do so under the standards of this subreddit, others may chip in with what knowledge they have. Perhaps these treads could be tagged in some way so that people can see the difference?
I'd rather they just get reposted to /r/history as a sort of boneyard for unanswered questions here. Two week old follow-ups have little visibility beyond the OP anyway, as they are well off the front page at that point.
Thank you for the suggestion, but frankly, relaxation of the rules, even under certain conditions, is not something we would be interested in doing. It is unfortunate that people don't always get an answer, but they come to this sub because they are seeking the type of answer that the rules are designed to facilitate. Relaxing those rules to get the question answered would thus be something of a contradiction, and not in the interests of the subreddit.
If a question is unanswered, we always encourage users to repost them after a period of time, and there are also subreddits to pose questions to with less stringent requirements for answers such as /r/AskHistory and /r/History.