As a reader, it doesn't bother me too much. I'd much rather have dead threads than see the quality of the sub drop even a little. By far the best sub on reddit.

I think it's at least worth noting that this is not an issue that the community and the moderators have ignored so far; in fact it is one that has been discussed many, many times.

You can see for instance this "rules roundtable" which provides a breakdown of the usual arguments. As well as this meta thread and this one suggesting alternative approaches, as well as a lot more generically observing the lack of answers, such as this one.

But if you search for "removed" - well, that's basically a running joke around here. In fact there is no refusal to speak about the issue at all; it's just one that has been discussed over and over.

It appears that most people; or at least most regular users who spend enough time around here to participate to the regular polls and various meta threads are in fact satisfied with the moderation and the quality of the answers. More so, other possible improvements are often impossible due to technical limitations, as explained in the linked threads.

As a flaired user, I'd like to add that there is somewhat of a "responsibility" for the moderation team to make sure that a question is answered properly; because those who come here for one, expect it to be so. There are countless places in reddit where you can have a free discussion on a topic, and you seem to appreciate that this subreddit has clear rules on the nature of acceptable answers; the large amount of removals is a consequence of those and I don't think you can have one without the other.

In addition - I am not a mod, but I browse by "new" - I can assure that most of the deleted posts are not genuine answers, just stuff that gets posted, ranging from pointless to offensive. And when a decent attempt to an answer is made, it's common to help the user improve it if possible, by suggesting to expand on certain arguments, providing sources, etc.

Statistics also show that most of the top threads do indeed get answered. There are questions which do not of course; and, while every question that stays within the rules should be welcome, there are some that are close to unanswerable, or require such an extensive effort to provide anything decent that they may not get one. You can give a look to this "rules roundtable.

Incidentally, users should remember that any subreddit is not just a community for their fruition: it is not a place where answers are provided to you - it's a place where the moderators, the flairs, those who ask questions and those who just read them participate together. The experience needs to be rewarding to all of them.

What qualified person - because ultimately we all want to read a good answer by someone who really knows the subject and is able to explain it in an understandable but thorough manner, don't we? - is going to take hours out of their daily routine, do some research to be sure to include the key elements, try to write a decent and readable summary, if they know their answer is going to be buried by the first comment posted which op thinks is "sort of" ok?

Whenever you ask a question, you offer someone a chance to do something they like: engage with a topic they believe is relevant, important, worth their time and effort. And they give you back information, as accurate as possible, if they "enjoy" the process of doing it. In this sense I think this subreddit is working fine; as it gives both its readers and flaired users something that other subreddits don't, which helps keeping the community active enough and generating enough good quality content.

There's other subreddits of course, which do different things and offer their users and contributors different incentives - which is fine - but frankly it might not be what one is looking for around here.

What do you suggest?

You're not the first to say this*. Something I suspect a lot of casual browsers underestimate is the sheer time composing a good answer takes. I always assume writing one will take 1-2 hours of work, if the question is non-trivial. Sometimes it takes 3 or more.

*Understatement of the year.

Let that sink in for a bit. OK, I'm sure a number of Redditors are going "so what? I spend 12 hours a day writing slashfic!", but many of us run on sleep debts, work on research for 8 or more hours every weekday and many weekends, and might have a side job too. That means the time it takes to write a single answer can be a considerable portion of our free time any given week.

While I'm a scientist by trade, I love writing for AH. This is a great community, it's a good incentive to learn new things and find new angles on familiar subjects, it's an opportunity to nerd out engage in intellectual discourse without driving our family and friends crazy.

But I consider it an investment in a hobby I enjoy and an opportunity for intellectual stimulation, not a frivolous time-killing activity. The last thing I want to see is any change to the sub's rules that result in me having to spend time correcting random commenters introducing incorrect, misleading or poorly conveyed information into a question thread. And that is invariably what any "solution" to this problem would be.

I doubt I'm the only writer here who feels this way and who would be much less inclined to write for AH were such a change made. Quality over quantity is the guiding principle at work, not the other way around.

I had a similar thought after a recent deletion: it wasn't a prize-winning answer, so I wasn't bothered enough to query it, but it just wasn't a question that called for citations/sources, more a matter of opinion. I understand the desire to maintain quality, but there seems a case for a more relaxed attitude when questions aren't of the "tell me... prove it" variety, otherwise some seem doomed to go unanswered by virtue of their broad or general character.

Basically it's just a lot harder to write an answer that's up to standard than it is to write a question, so there'll always be more questions than answers.

I'm of the opinion that a solution has already been found: r/HistoriansAnswered. I tend to browse the main r/AskHistorians sub only when I think I might be able answer something (though most of the questions that catch my eye already get sent to my email via IFTTT) or if I'm curious what people are asking. Even without answers, questions are still rather thought provoking...I might not have an answer but I can at least speculate (to myself only because rules) what factors likely play into a question.

When I want to read answers instead of questions, then HistoriansAnswered has me covered. And if you want the answer to a question that doesn't have a contribution, then you are free to repost said question for more visibility or you can look into the sources yourself.

What about “Comment Flair” - if that is possible?

Sometimes, personally, I think reading an answer while understanding it is sort of opinionated or partially incomplete in answering the question. But if there was some kind of flair to highlight that, more content could be available.

Dan Carlin is no historian, but he covers a lot very thoroughly.

Some of us may not be nearly as knowledgeable as the two, but it sure does beat [deleted] always

I agree. As a historian who has answered a few questions, I feel reluctant to answer any questions I don’t have the specific credentials for despite sometimes having the knowledge of the answer simply from my own research but not the references at hand.