This is something that's been bothering me for some time now. I know this is going to come off as ranty, petty, trivial, and will most likely be deleted or at least down voted to hell.
So many questions are posted to /r/AskHistorians everyday that are in the first person. Such as:
"I'm a blank from time period. What was life like for me?"
Just type: "What was life like for blank from time period?"
Was that so hard? Can people really not figure out how to word questions that don't involve it being in the first person? It just doesn't seem as 'professional'. I guess I took something that I learn in high school english class to heart....
It just doesn't seem as 'professional'.
Please keep in mind that this subreddit isn't intended to be a space for professional question askers (or necessarily answerers, either, but that is neither here nor there). We try to keep the rules for asking questions to the barest necessity, so as to encourage anyone and everyone to look for the answers to their inquiry. Asking questions can be an art, just like any other, and putting a high bar on how they are phrased will more likely just discourage people from asking at all rather then lead to them phrasing them better.
On that note. The "I Am A" style has been around for years, and brings up... strong feelings.... on both sides though. Roughly similar minorities of really hate them and really like them, based on polling we've done in the past. But the majority just don't care one way or the other. We do recommend users avoid it, simply because it maximizes the appeal to a potential respondent (Someone who hates it might avoid it, someone who loves it doesn't exclusively answer those types), but we don't plan to ban it. We've had discussions in the past about why people like it (or not), and this might shed some light for you.