Welcome flair applicants! This is the place to apply for a flair – the colored text you will have seen next to some user's names indicating their specialization. We are always looking for new flaired users, and if you think you have what it takes to join the panel of historians, you're in the right place!
For examples of previous applications, and our current panel of historians, you can find the previous application thread here, and there is a list of active flaired users on our wiki.
A flair in /r/AskHistorians indicates extensive, in-depth knowledge about an area of history and a proven track record of providing great answers in the subreddit. In applying for a flair, you are claiming to have:
Expertise in an area of history, typically from either degree-level academic experience or an equivalent amount of self-study. For more exploration of this, check out this thread.
The ability to cite sources from specialist literature for any claims you make within your area.
The ability to provide high quality answers in the subreddit in accordance with our rules.
For a more in-depth look at how applications are analyzed, consult this helpful guide on our wiki explaining what an answer that demonstrates the above looks like.
To apply for a flair, simply post in this thread. Your post needs to include:
Links to 3-5 comments in /r/AskHistorians that show you meet the above requirements, and of which at least three were posted in the last six months. Answers linked in an application should go 'above and beyond' the base requirements of the rules here, and reflect the depth of your expertise.
The text of your flair and which category it belongs in (see the sidebar). Be as specific as possible as we prefer flair to reflect the exact area of your expertise as near as possible, but be aware there is a limit of 64 characters.
One of the moderators will then either confirm your flair or, if the application doesn't adequately show you meet the requirements, explain what's missing. If you get rejected, don't despair! We're happy to give you advice and pointers on how to improve your portfolio for a future application. Plenty of panelists weren't approved the first time.
If there's a backlog this may take a few days but we will try to get around to everyone as quickly as possible.
"I'm an Expert About Something But Never Have a Chance to Write About It!"
Some topics only come up once in a blue moon, but that doesn't mean you can't still get flair in it! There are a number of avenues to follow, many of which are dealt with in greater detail at the last section of this thread.
Expected Behavior
We invest a large amount of trust in the flaired members of /r/askhistorians, as they represent the subreddit when answering questions, participating in AMAs, and even in their participation across reddit as a whole. As such, we do take into account an applicant's user history reddit-wide when reviewing an application, and will reject applicants whose post history demonstrate bigotry, racism, or sexism. Such behavior is not tolerated in /r/askhistorians, and we do not tolerate it from our panelists in any capacity. We additionally reserve the right to revoke flair based on evidence of such behavior after the application process has been completed. /r/AskHistorians is a safe space for everyone, and those attitudes have no place here.
Quality Contributors
If you see an unflaired user consistently giving excellent answers, they can be nominated for a "Quality Contributor" flair. Just message the mods their username and some example comments which you believe meet the above criteria.
FAQ Finder
To apply for FAQ finder, we require demonstration of a consistent history of community involvement and linking to previous responses and the FAQ. We expect to see potential FAQ Finders be discerning in what they link to, ensuring that it is to threads which represent the current standards of the subreddit, and they do so in a polite and courteous manner, both to the 'Asker', and also by including a username ping of the original 'Answerer'.
Revoking Flair
Having a flair brings with it a greater expectation to abide by the subreddit's rules and maintain the high standard of discussion we all like to see here. The mods will revoke the flair of anybody who continually breaks the rules, fails to meet the standard for answers in their area of expertise, or violates the above mentioned expectations. Happily, we almost never have to do this.
Additional Resources
Before applying for flair, we encourage you to check out these resources to help you with the application process:
applying for flair: "Islam in America" and "Religious Conversion in America" under the History of Religion and Philosophy category (or, if you prefer, North American History). Have a PhD; independent scholar; have written multiple articles and books.
comments:
I would like to apply for flair for "American Literature to 1900" and "Antebellum American Religions" within the North American History category. I'm a Ph.D. candidate currently writing my dissertation. Here are my linked comments:
Hi there /u/aguyinarpg - the old flair application thread got archived due to being over 6 months old, so we're pinging you here in the new flair application thread instead.
Let me start out by saying that we have enjoyed many of your recent posts, and have promoted them on Sunday Digest and Twitter, etc. for exactly that reason. However, we do still have some reservations and want to see a bit more of your work over a longer period of time before we grant a flair.
Firstly, while we do understand that video game questions are relatively rare, we do note that you wrote a bunch of answers in that topic area right before applying for flair, and only sporadic ones from before that. We do want to see a more sustained pattern of answering related questions before you apply again.
Secondly, we want to see more proof of your understanding of historical method and historiography before we grant a flair. Your posts in AH have a tendency to broadly summarise, in a narrative way, without dialing down into the nitty gritty. Broad narrative summaries are fine for our purposes, but they don't necessarily demonstrate all the historical skills we want flairs to have. What I mean here is that we also want to see more evidence of your ability to evaluate and carefully critique sources and deconstruct historical narratives; you've chosen a field that might not yet have much academic historical research, and where it's sometimes necessary for sources you use to be a blog post - show your working. I felt this was also an issue in your more recent answer on concept albums, which we removed because you seemed to be claiming that they'd disappeared, without sufficient qualification, and despite the clear continued existence of concept albums after the 1970s; the post also had a few other historical errors - e.g., Sgt Peppers was not the first album that the Beatles recorded on 4-track.
We also have some reservations over your post history in KIA. We don't allow incivility or bigotry, two things not always in short supply there. Our flaired users represent the sub when posting in other forums, so we expect them to uphold those basic principles.
So there's a lot to work on, but we do see potential here. If you can show continued contributions over a few months, which demonstrates more careful historiographical method, while showing that you understand our concerns about flaired users representing the subreddit, we'll be happy to grant a flair.
I am going to go out on a bit of a limb here and apply for a flair in "Zoroastrianism" (or something similar, narrower if you prefer. History of Religion and Philosophy as suggested category.). I've done my best to address every question I've caught on the matter for the last month or so; the ones of note are as follows (titles slightly abridged):
To what degree did Zoroastrianism preserve Iranian/Persian polytheism?
Does Zoroastrian xwedodah refer to sibling/parental marriages or marriages between cousins?
How old is Zoroastrianism? Is it older than Hinduism?
Were ancient Indians and Iranians aware of their shared cultural and linguistic heritage?
So I'm going to be upfront with one thing: I am well aware that there is a pretty limited range of sources that I'm citing, though it includes primary sources and the occasional article. There are basically three reasons for this:
The questions (and by far most questions on Zoroastrianism I've seen here) are fairly to very elementary and pretty general, and Boyce's volume (which is always my first stop) is the standard text.
It's not exactly the hottest topic in the field; it's practically de rigueur to find articles well over a hundred years old as the main point of reference, which also means that there's not that much in the way of big controversies, and thus tying into point 1, it is very often simply distracting to go back to these very dated sources unless one is looking for something quite specific.
... and honestly, the only way I had of getting my hands on the (amazing) 2015 Wiley-Blackwell volume (which I cite in the last answer) was coughing up a considerable chunk of cold, hard, cash, and I was only able to bring myself to do this last week. It makes my life as a Zoroastrianism-answerer much easier.
So, to summarize, if you find these answers inadequate, I very much understand that, and I certainly didn't write them with flair application in mind. Now what I would really hope to see in the future (perhaps someone on the team is sitting on one, hint, hint) are less-elementary questions coming from a place of genuine interest in Zoroastrianism as a religion, rather than ones just looking for a piece of basic trivia. It's much more enjoyable to write really thorough answers to such questions!
/u/erissays, the earlier thread was archived, so posting in reply over here, but your Application is approved.
If I could, I'd like to apply for flair, since I've been commenting here so much lately.
My main focus is New York and Colonial American history, so I think it should probably read "New York and Colonial America" or something like that if you agree to flair me. Thanks so much!
Hello, I would like to apply for a flair in "Dutch History" this flair should be in the European History category.
Here are my answers on this subject:
For /u/one_esk_nineteen, carried over from the previous thread:
Thanks for applying for flair. Unfortunately, we will not be granting it at this time. Your answers don't show in-depth knowledge of your desired flair field, and the ones outside it don't tackle the meat of the question. We'd like to see a lot more focus on both field and on answering the question that's been asked both deeply and comprehensively.
After a bit of consideration I've decided to try out for a flair (frequent comments from the moderators/flairs here definitely made me consider it) for Submarine Warfare of World War One.
First is an answer I wrote in response to a question about submarine versus submarine combat, in which I talked about American submarine versus submarine combat in World War One
The next two are from the WWI AMA done recently:
First up is how submarine warfare actually worked during the war and what were the Allied submarine fleets actually up to.
The next is a shorter write-up about what the Austro-Hungarians were attempting to do with their submarine fleet.
Then finally, while not having much to do about submarines, I wrote this multi-part answer about surface engagements between the Royal Navy and German Navy in World War One.
Even if I don't get this round I'll still be around contributing and crafting better and better answers :). Looking forward to hearing your guy's feedback.
Hello good people of AskHistorians, I would like to apply if possible for European History flair: History of Ideas (or Intellectual History or History of Philosophy maybe). My contributions in the same field are:
Answer on role of fortresses in the 1814 invasion of France
Discussion of the 1812 invasion of Russia
Would like to modify my flair to ' Wars of Napoleon | American Civil War' in milhist green if that's alright
/u//u/Benjowenjo, the earlier thread was archived, so posting in reply over here.
Thank you for applying for flair, but at this time, we aren't prepared to grant it. You show great enthusiasm, but unfortunately the answers you linked in your application don't quite demonstrate the level of depth and source-familiarity that we expect before granting flair. An answer like this, only a single paragraph, simply doesn't demonstrate the comprehensive knowledge in the topic that we are looking for - not to say that you don't have it, but we need to see it demonstrated. Similarly, in several answers, while you note that you 'can provide sources upon request', which comports with the rules, for a flair application, we want to see preemptive sourcing, and even more importantly, critical engagement with them where appropriate.
Again though, you show enthusiasm, and we hope that you'll keep these pointers in mind to work on improving your app to reapply down the line. On one final note though, we would also suggest that you work on narrowing down your focus a bit into a clearly defined flair area represented by your answers.
/u/Osarnachthis, the earlier thread was archived, so posting in reply over here, but your Application is approved.
Hi! I would like to apply for a flair that reads "Victorian Literature and Culture." I have an MA in English and am currently applying for PhD programs. Much of my work (on Victorian children’s literature and empire) falls in the realm of what might be called "cultural studies" and attends closely to the historical context of the texts I write about, hence my ability and interest in answering historical questions. Answers:
When and why did children become a special protected class? The nineteenth century saw the development of the "romantic child" and an extension of the privileges of the romantic child to more and more people
Were the British trying to convert the native Indian population to Christianity when they ruled the subcontinent? There was in fact missionary fervor in Britain to convert India driven by evangelical Christianity in Britain, but neither the East India Company nor the Raj made forced conversion their official policy.
Why does Robert Graves seem so into the idea that all gods are one? Thank James Frazer and The Golden Bough.
What was the inspiration for the House system at Hogwarts? JK Rowling draw directly on Tom Brown's School Days and literary depiction of nineteenth century boarding schools.
Hello, I would like to apply for a flair in "Succession in Europe 1500-1800" this flair should be in the European History category.
Here are my answers on this subject:
I have also answered other questions about European royalty, like this one which was placed in the Sunday Digest by Georgy_K_Zhukov :
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8od4vo/the_lion_in_winter_suggests_that_richard_the/
Hi! I'd like to apply for a flair in "19th and 20th Century Economic Development".
A couple replies on this topic:
How did China portray the collapse of the Soviet Union to its populace? (I discuss the CCP's view of "capitalist" economics in the replies here)
Thanks!
Oh hi. I'd like to apply for flair, please. I'd like my flair to read (if approved):
Category: Military History
Flair: WWII, Vichy France, Occupation, 20th Cent Warfare
Here are links to some of my answers:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9cqdc9/during_operation_torch_816_november_1942_how/
Thanks for your consideration!
Hello! I would like to submit my reddit resume for flair as "Archaeology: Roman Provinces & Great Lakes Region".
I am transitioning this summer from government archaeology to academia, and with more time for writing am trying to get more involved in this subreddit! In the last six months I have commented answers to:
A history of Latin - which was I was honored to have tweeted out by the r/askhistory twitter this week! - https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8txo4q/would_a_roman_from_500bc_have_been_able_to/e1brjls/
Breast feeding in Rome -
How sites get buried -
A reading list for someone interested in Roman Britain -
And about goods delivery in the Roman Provinces -
Clearly these have been more geared towards my specialty in Roman provincial and frontier archaeology, but I am happy to answer questions about the historic archaeology of the Great Lakes region whenever I see one!
Looking forward to being a more frequent contributor here, and hope you all feel I'd do so better with flair!
- Sleepy Scholar
I'd like to apply for flair for this sub. My MA and specialization is in comparative politics and elections in North America and Europe.
One of the mods actually gave me silver for answering this older question on the history of the Boy Scouts. (Not a specialty but I was a scout and read a bit on the history.)
Hi there! I would like to apply for flair in the subject area of "Canadian History | Nationalism and Canadian Identity" or similar. I applied for this flair previously a few years ago and was rightfully rejected for lacking substance to several of my answers. I have tried to remedy that in my more recent responses!
Here is an older response regarding the economic and military policies of the Canadian government during the Second World War.
The 12th S.S. Division and the 3rd Canadian Division in Normandy, 1944
Although this is a shorter answer, I think it does a good job of demonstrating my knowledge of primary source material for the Canadian Corps during the First World War.
In recent weeks I have discussed changes to Canadian immigration policy during the 1960s and defence cooperation between Canada and the US since the 1930s.
The choice for flair reflects my own areas of research rather than the type of answers I have provided here, which tend to skew towards military history. I'm open to suggestions for that, or to ideas on how to improve my answers!
I'd like to request a flair downgrade, if possible, to just Early Modern Drama instead of the double-barrel EM Jesuits/EM Drama. Is this all right? Let me know if there's anything else I should do as a prerequisite.
Hi, i would like to apply for a flair. I recently found this subreddit and i would like to help. I studied Biblical history for 7 years and i may say i have extensive knowledge on this subject. My "specialty" are works of Flavius Josephus. I did't found much of questions directed to my field so i hope some of this will be enough.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9fsrl1/what_is_the_christian_gods_real_name/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9fzeny/what_do_we_know_or_think_probable_about_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9am3dg/how_did_song_of_songs_which_is_mostly_a/
Flair text would be maybe "The Biblical History".
This might be premature, since I've only been hanging around this thread for a few weeks. If I should wait longer, please just let me know, and I'll bide my time...
I have a PhD in Greek and Roman history, and have taught in the History and Classics departments of several universities. My AskHistorians answers have, predictably, focused on the Classical era, though I have occasionally forayed into the early middle ages. A few of my better (and better-received) contributions (two of which have appeared in Sunday Digests):
These answers range fairly widely over the Roman world. I could in good conscience (having taught a Roman history survey class at a large university) apply for a generic "Roman Imperial History" flair - and if you think that would be best, I'll happily acquiesce. I would prefer, however, the flair "Greek and Roman Architecture", the actual focus of my published research. I'm aware that none of the answers linked above deals with architecture - people don't seem to ask about it very often - but that is the one area in which I can claim to be an original researcher, and I would like to highlight that fact. I'd be happy to send you one of my published articles to confirm my expertise.
If you think "Greek and Roman Architecture" would work as a flair, I suppose the category would be art history - though I'd prefer European history.
Hi there I’d like to apply for the flairs regarding the Holocaust and also the Einsazgruppen and there treatment of the Jewish people and others on the east. Thank you
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9vxwum/comment/e9n3zgi
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9vqklt/comment/e9n0y2w
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9vv5c8/comment/e9mz0eq
I think I will apply for a flair in "Early Modern Europe".
Here are some recent answers of mine in the subreddit:
Answer to "How would a wealthy European individual or family around 1500 keep their home clean? What sorts of 'cleaning products' would they (or rather, their servants) use?"
Answer to "What are 5 books that every person who loves history should read?"
Answer to "Why do witches traditionally ride brooms in Western mythology?" https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a2e78e/why_do_witches_traditionally_ride_brooms_in/eayp0qz/
(EDIT: ADDED 12/8/2018) Answer to "What was it really like for people locked in the stocks?"
I hold a B.A. in Liberal Studies from one university, a B.A. in European History from another university, and am currently a Ph.D. student specializing in early modern German history at yet another university. (I can provide proof of this education in PM if necessary.)
Let me know if there's any other info or documentation needed by the mods! Thanks. This is a fun sub.
Hi, I think I'll apply for flare. I already am a flaired user in AskAnthropology, so I thought what the hell. I actually do have degrees applicable to my studies if you'd like to see them, but that would be in a PM (I don't want to dox myself here haha).
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/90euz4/how_were_nonheterosexual_people_treated_and/e2qa6bp I also pointed a user to a thread in AskAnthropology that I was involved in for further reading (because I mention many academic books to read as well as discuss Philippine culture and language). I can leave that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/9ljier/what_was_the_most_feminist_society_in_history/e77d9se
https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/9sxzp9/obscure_or_lesserknown_history_posts_are_allowed/e8tqa6b This is from the badhistory sub but I thought it was a good answer and one where I again recommended readings based on the topic I was writing on.
My flair would be in the Asian History section. My biggest focus is certainly the Philippines, but I am well-versed in modern China/Taiwan/Vietnamese history as well, as my degree in university was for Asian Studies (as well as two different fields of anthropology). So, I think it would probably be best to call the flair "East and Southeast Asian Studies".
Hopefully this is good enough!
Hi! I was wondering about whether it would be possible to apply for the "Quality Contributor" flair, rather than any specific flair, without an outside nomination. I would prefer this because my answers in AH come from a range of different areas of history, and so I don't think I would fit well into any particular flair. Quite a few of these answers have made it into the FAQ too!
Here are a few of my answers, very vaguely chronological:
Eastern Roman Empire and the Balkans
My favourite, on [the French Rev] (https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/61ry5c/was_louis_xvis_financial_situation_really_so_dire/) (and follow-up questions)
Labour's victory in 1945 and subsequent elections and follow-up questions on subsequent threads
No worries if that's not what the Quality Contributor flair is for. I'm happy to not have a flair or wait indefinitely to be nominated!
Howdy, I'd like to apply for the FAQ Finder flair.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8sj9kn/united_states_and_heavy_cavalry/
Thanks!
I would like to apply for flair in Religious History and Early American History.
Here is a link that displays both Slavery and the Curse of Ham
Here is Early American History: Practice of Scalping among Native Americans and Europeans
Here is Religious History: Did early Christians think Jesus would return soon
More religious history: Greek origin of term Synagogue
Hi there - reapplying for flair in US Military History after a long hiatus.
Hi there, I would like to apply for a European History flair: Czech and Czechoslovak History
Comments:
Why did the Czech Republic and Slovakia split apart in 1993?
Who made the desicion to reinvigorate Czechoslovakia post-WWII?
Although two of the above comments are in the same thread, I believe that they are answering two questions that are radically different. That being said, if all comments for application need to be in separate threads, let me know and I will reapply later!
edit: originally two of the links lead to the same comment
As per suggestion, I would like to apply for a Soviet Union flair:
Why the USSR did not form an alliance with France/UK in 1939
[Why Gorbachev did not negotiate commitment against NATO expansion] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8zcy8t/when_the_soviet_union_did_fall_apart_couldnt_the/e2icx0u/)
[Did Beria really intend on liberal reforms after Stalin's death] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/76xj6n/did_beria_really_intend_to_initiate_liberal/dojw3cc/)
Some of my older posts:
[Soviet reaction to Watergate] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4k92a5/how_did_soviet_leaders_view_the_watergate/d3dhnwp/)
[What was highest Available salary in USSR] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/44u4dd/in_the_1970s_what_was_the_richest_you_could_get/czt4q10/)
[Did Stalin ever feel guilty about his actions] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4tengo/did_stalin_ever_express_sadness_or_guilt_with/d5h4nn3/)
I also want to apply for 20th century China flair:
Why did Deng send in the tanks in 1989
[Why did China invade Vietnam in 1979] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/339y5g/who_won_the_sinovietnamese_war/cqj02rr/)
[Why did Mao start the cultural revolution] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5w8p3k/explanations_for_the_cultural_revolution/de8nhly/)
Why did the Cultural Revolution not survive Mao
I understand that on the Chinese side my posts tend to be older (time constraints on posting nowadays), but if need be I'll try to make time to write something is somebody "asks" a question. On the Soviet side if need be I've being wanting to write something arguing that Gorbachev was the primary cause to the Soviet collapse.
Thanks.
Hello everyone, I would like to apply for a flair: Under European History: Republican Rome and the Hellenistic East:
Some evidence:
[discussion on Alexander's Pacification Policies] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9em4p5/why_did_alexander_the_great_begin_to_persianify/e5q6tau/)
[looking at Pompey and his interactions with the Greek World] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6qb39r/why_did_the_romans_take_so_much_from_the_greek/dkw1uiy/)
Discussing Roman Republican Expansion
Thanks for the consideration
This might be an odd request, since I'm not asking for my flair to be changed (I like it the way it is), but rather asking if it could be changed. So, if I wanted to change from plain old Taiping Rebellion to Taiping Rebellion | Late Qing or Taiping Rebellion | Qing Dynasty or perhaps even Taiping Rebellion | Opium Wars would the following five answers be a reasonable enough basis to do so?
(Titles are indicative of answer content and not directly reflective of the original questions)
Just asking, why are most 'new' questions unanswered?
If you have any questions about the flairing process or applications, please post as a reply to THIS COMMENT ONLY. Top level comments are limited only to Flair Applications. Thank you!