Without quality moderation, this sub would be filled with the same, easily googled questions, and answers from partially read wikipedia articles. That's at best. At worst, this would just be another crappy sub for holocaust deniers.

It's neither of these things thanks to the quality moderation you all provide (also, all the amazing people who leave quality, in-depth answers). I've been subscribed to this subreddit for a long, long time, and it has consistently been one of my favorites. Thank you for all you do.

I come here to read, not to write. Thank you to everyone who posts such fantastic answers.

The forum is great because sometimes very knowledgeable people share interesting or useful information.

The forum is terrible when trolls ask faux-questions. Especially barely-plausibly-deniable racist ones.

I really enjoy this page. I've found it quite interesting and informative. I'm not really a historian so I haven't been able to answer questions. But there have been quite a lot of questions and answers that really have struck me as interesting. I guess I'm a lurker?

I was hoping this "roundtable" would literally be each mod taking a turn telling people to fuck off in the historical vernacular of their choice.

I literally just sent a few people this post. I'm in a group focused on a specific thing (not history) and someone has been posting a lot of nonsense that the founder and I have not wanted. We've nicely been like this is spam here we don't want this. And more firmly like hey don't do this. In return we've gotten a whole lot of "but community, tolerance and inclusivity".

Ugh

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I'm about to steal

People came to that space for a specific experience, and you have no right to impose your own preferences on them or expect your needs to be accommodated in such a way. [...] What it comes down to in the end is that the Mod Team here has a specific vision, and we welcome everyone into that space. We don't expect it to be one that fits everyone, nor would we try to make it so. But while we might not expect everyone to enjoy this community, we do expect everyone to respect it. If you can't do even that, then it isn't really our problem, but it certainly says a great deal about you, so fuck off.

unless, again, a mod is literally in your home with a gun to your head. Sorry if so, not my fault though

My roommates keep blinking SOS and I can't understand why. I just want to tell them the good word about the digest every day.

I hadn't gone to school in about eight years when I discovered your sub. I was an amateur historian but had always talked myself out of going back. But, it was this sub... specifically, preparing sourced and well-argued answers for this sub... that made me want to return, and now, I'm provisionally accepted to a grad school's history program for their MA (and possibly Doctorate, if my sanity, GI Bill money, and hair all hold out). I wish some of the other informative subs were as properly moderated as this one is.

Thank you!

Language, Mr. Zhukov, language!! Ok, I've stopped laughing...seriously, this is the best subreddit, I've lurked here for years and learned so much. Thank you and all the mods for the often thankless tasks you perform for my (our) benefit.

Thank you for being one of the best moderated subs on this platform. It is refreshing, encouraging, and educational.

The mods should collate some of the goofier behavior so that we can get an idea of what you're actually dealing with. Most of this is news to me due to the quality of moderation involved in promptly and firmly flushing the poo down to the swirling depths where it belongs. Surely people aren't really demanding that the rules be bent so that they can take the time to explain their theory on how Hitler wasn't really such a bad guy after all, right?

unless, again, a mod is literally in your home with a gun to your head. Sorry if so, not my fault though

Shit. Sorry. Not a mod, but I've totally been forcing people to browse at gunpoint. Didn't realize that would be a problem. I'll find a new hobby.

I am a public history grad student. It it's mine, and a few of my professors, opinion that askhistorians is perhaps one of, if not the greatest, example of collaborative public history in the 21st century and it is an invaluable source for students like me to hunt down what sources the experts think I should read on a topic without having to sort through 100 people recommending Bill O'Reilly's history books.

Fuck yeah, great writeup.

As i grew up while using reddit, the more educated i became in certain topics, the more i noticed how much misinformation gets casually posted for the sake of simply participating in the discussion, and not providing accurate information, within the context of these topics i happen to know something about. The main 'general' subs are the most egregious when it comes to this.

Niche, specialist subreddits can generally be trusted when it comes to very specific problems, but even among them, AskHistorians is undeniably the exemplary golden standard, the shining beacon of what an informative subreddit should look like. It feels very reassuring that i can hop on here and read any given thread and be sure that all the comments are held up to a high standard by the moderators. So, thank you mods.

Well that was a most delightfully snark-filled post. Thanks for the laugh and well said.

I write for and narrate an Ancient History channel on YouTube. The founder and main producer is an absolute terror in the comments, matching the energy and hostility of the fundamentalist Christians who attack us for using CE and BCE instead of AD and BC, for contradicting the Bible in our well-researched articles on Canaan and Elam, and the racists who attempt to force the facts to fit their evil visions. Without the pushback in the comments (and these are YouTube comments so you know they're as poisonous as possible) the material would be undercut by the howling madness of the commenters.

Strong moderation is important. In fact, it's one of the front lines in this information war we're fighting. Experts and academics in every field are under attack. The Know-Nothings are on the warpath. We cannot give in to their cultural amnesia and revisionism in support of their foreign and domestic masters. What /r/AskHistorians does is essential to the continued working of democracy itself.

Having knowledge but lacking the power to express it clearly is no better than never having any ideas at all. --Pericles

AskHistorians mod team is a crew of kings, queens and non gender specific royalty who have created one of the greatest functional spaces on the entire internet. In the postmodern era of War On Truth I believe the existence of this place is actually Important in ways that we won't, ironically, be able to discuss here for two decades.

Sincerely, thank you. And if you don't get it: truly, please do fuck off

Quick question - please excuse me if this is the wrong place to post this. A lot of the time I see fascinating questions but there are no answers posted yet. I assume it's because it takes some time for people to respond in more detail. However, those then seem to fall off my front page or whatever you call it. Do you recommend I visit the subreddit page to see answered questions? Any other ideas?

I apologize that I am not trained nor particularly experienced in expressing my thoughts in text format, but this position that you are taking has always struck me as very poorly stated and pointlessly antagonistic. I've been reading this forum for years and years and I've seen this statement (or similar) come up several times. I 100% understand and empathize with the sentiment that it is expressing, but that doesn't change the presentation. I put to you that the people who are causing you this frustration are not likely to read these posts. I believe 'those people' clearly aren't reading even the most basic items in the sidebar, let alone digging into a multi-paragraph post. If I may extend a metaphor, rather than preaching to the choir, you are shouting at them.

I am speaking to the general tone of this post, lots of advice to "fuck off" in there. I am reluctant to get more precise because I have found that people who like to argue tend to pick on specifics, attack them and then conclude they have won the argument, ignoring the whole 'forest for the trees' thing. In the interest of communication I will attempt to do so, but as I've said, I'm not good at this sort of thing. My opinion stands regardless of my ability to express it clearly in the face of a hostile audience. (any criticism of the mods here is met with an extremely hostile audience)

• 2 million visitors a day is not proof of anything beyond popularity, it is Absolutely Not proof of competence! Any number of political parties can boast similar numbers and be horrifyingly stupid, for example. There are much better examples of the usefulness of this sub (the longevity, for example) that sound less like a snotty influencer trying to score free stuff.

• I would love to see a Mission Statement or "specific vision of the Mod Team". Something that went beyond vague platitudes or a reminder to read the rules. I think that there are a number of unstated rules here and a basic statement would go a long way to addressing these and act as a reference point in more esoteric arguments where the rules aren't clear. To use the rough language of this post for some examples: "If you don't have a degree in the subject, you aren't qualified to speak so shut up" "Published text is the only thing that matters, so blow anything else out your ass." "This is Academia with capital letters, you are not permitted to be casual until you have established yourself"

To attempt to summarize: I think this is a fantastic place and I recognize the immense effort that is required to maintain a common space like this. I think that the posts on this particular subject are needlessly rude and antagonistic. I think that it very risky to my online persona here to stand up and state these opinions and I fully expect to be downvoted and flamed out of existence. Nevertheless, I believe in the usefulness and even greatness of this place and consequently I would like it to be better so I feel compelled to speak up. I'm more than willing to attempt to discuss these things further but I won't be shouted at or talked down to.

I would have unsubscribed ages ago if u/AutoModerator wasn't threatening to lead an AI uprising if I left.

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It's coming for me!!

I never should have posted this comment

Send help!!

I can only imagine the abuse the mods have to put up with. Thank you. This sub consistently has extremely high quality content and is a thing of beauty.

I... don't even understand who is this post targetted at and what it talks about... Does it mean I'm not fit to be here?

I will point out that it could be a non-mod with a gun forcing them to be here. Mods are not as special as they might think they are.

Man I really don’t get why people hate this sub and it’s moderation. Sure, it’s somewhat annoying when you don’t get an answer, but if I wanted something less in depth I’d go to /r/history. This is probably one of the only large subs that don’t revolve into jokes and memes left and right.

This is hands down the best sub on this site. No two ways about it.

Citing an r/Askhistorians thread is sufficient proof for a reason. You've kept up your high standards.

My only quibble? Remove old answers since back then, standards weren't as exacting.

Other than that, keep doing what you do.

I love this post. We've been trying to inch /r/askphilosophy closer to the quality of this subreddit for years, and every time we enforce the rules we get similar posts.

I bet this post was refreshing to write

Fuck you and see you tomorrow.

The best mods in the best sub

Thank you for your service o7

This is the best moderated sub on this entire hellsite and I love the job you all do.

I like this sub but sometimes I want a short answer. Is there a sub for that?

Every time I visit a thread upvoted to the thousands with all the comments deleted, I thank my lucky stars for the mods who save me from learning hogwash

I don't understand why Reddit doesn't accommodate you more. You're created a sort of template and set of best practices for this kind of sub, that could be taken by different groups to create similar communities on other topics, which could make Reddit into an entirely different kind of amazing resource, driving entirely new traffic here. If they put one coder on this, for half a day once a month, implementing things that make your job easier (first thing that comes to mind is integrating the functionality of your browser extension into the actual site), I'm sure they'd see a positive return as more subs start using this format. Thinking about sites like StackOverflow, I think Reddit could make them obsolete.

Never change, I love this sub and it's given me an interest in subjects I never would have thought of twice before.

I didn't realize this was a problem. Well everyone else appreciates you mods. Thanks for a great sub guys.

I enjoy /r/AskHistorians. Maybe my reddit-fu is weak, but is there a way to filter it so that questions with accepted answers show up at the top? I like to browse those but I’m too impatient to check through questions with no accepted answers in them.

100% in support. Yesterday, there was a history question in /r/books and every answer was the same unsourced drivel from Wikipedia. I thought I was in this sub and was like "Damnit, are the mods asleep?"

Best thing about this sub is that I can get very accurate Information directly by profesdionnals, wich often isnt guaranteed in othet subs where every random can post something wich is often not accurate.

Please, never ever change. Ever.

This was a great post, can I suggest an r/AskHistorians t-shirt:

#IT'S OPEN MIC NIGHT Please don't poop on the stage

I love the sub and it's mods. I do have one question/suggestion. Is there a, way to mark posts with questions that have legit answers? I find myself clicking on something with 100 comments only to see that they've all been removed. Then I forget to check back again!

I would like to point out that I, too, was not socialized well. Yet I immensly enjoy reading well researched and sourced material instead of writing anything that doesn't meet those criteria, even when - at times - the itch to say something off topic may be very, very strong.

The heavy moderation on this sub is what makes it one of my favourite places on the Internet. I'm sorry you have to deal with dickhead every day

Just wanted to add another comment saying I appreciate the rigorous moderation here. I enjoy reading the weekly digests with informed answers much more than wading through opinion and speculation on the other forums. Please keep up the great work.

I love this subreddit the way it is.
Most of reddit, including reddit itself (hello karma crap) , is of questionable quality, at best.
AskHistorians is one of few shining beacons.

Of all the subreddits on Reddit this AskHistorians is easily the one that gives me the most pleasure to read. I don't have to automatically doubt answers that goes against my own assumptions as the quality is so high and references and advice on further reading is never more than a reply away at most. That kind of quality requires dedication and we're all grateful for the work you the moderaters do.

If everything was this good on the internet the world would be a different place. A better place. But with all the failings of mankind I'm happy to at least have this place to visit, learn from and enjoy.

Branding isn't so much about speaking to the people you want, but about alienating the people you don't want. Do you think Apple cares that I think their phones are too expensive? McDonald's food is too unhealthy? Tiktok doesn't represent my interests?

Spam emails are a great example. They're written so poorly that only an idiot would respond. If a non-idiot responds, they will waste their time on a false lead. The scammers only want the dumbest people acting on it at all.

AskHistorians is great at this - there's no attempt to convert the people who don't like this, or trying to change how you do things. You like it? Awesome! Hate it? Okay, whatever.

It's great!

I almost never post as I'm just a serial lurker on Reddit, but this sub always impresses with how well it's moderated. I always appreciate that the people here care for a well thought out and sourced answer and not just the random BS that gets thrown around. Especially in this age of misinformation via news, social media, etc. It just feels good to see people care about facts and moderators making sure that this sub is about quality not quantity.

TL;DR You mods are awesome. Facts and sources are dope.

Just joined the sub yesterday and this is the first thing that popped up for me. Now, I'm afraid...

I'm curious what brought about the recent frustration? I feel like people getting pissy over the fact that only informed and backed up answers are allowed has been a thing for as long as I remember this sub.

I imagine it also doesn't help that you're likely not going to hear from the people who have positive opinions of how the sub is run, because we keep our mouths shut.

There have certainly been posts a long time ago that I remember disagreeing with the moderation of (debates over a source being good enough or not, whatever) but on the whole I appreciate that this is for serious answers.

Speaking from experience it's frustrating in other forums seeing someone ask something like "What did the enslaved wear in or do in their off time" or "What was pre-revolutionary Georgia like" and see someone answering with some junk tourism "history." Then finding that no one wants to hear anything that's actually based on research or primary source documents because it's not what their aunt told them or their elementary textbook from the 70's told them.

In short, appreciate you, I hope the idiots haven't cause too much stress.

Best sub on this site, never change

Thank you

Get em, Georgy!

I'm staying right here and I refuse to unsubscribe..I'm going to keep snooping through the posts, lurking through the comments and sighing to myself when there is no quality answer yet to the post I find mildly interesting. I'm telling you this because you can't stop me without putting a gun to my head. And I so rarely get a chance to make a scene here.

In fact, here you go, have an exclamation mark !

I want to thank you all for all your hard work and dedication. I've been on Reddit for a long time, and I've always considered this to be the best subreddit on here. There's no contest, really, when it comes to quality content.

I want to thank each of you on the mod team (yes, you!) for nurturing this wonderful garden of historial knowledge.

Thank you for everything you do! This post is a really great example of how to project the "this is how we do it here; you can do other things other places if you don't like it" message, and I really appreciate it.

This is a great sub, one of my favorites. I have nothing I can contribute, so I love to read the great replies. That is all. Thank you all for taking the time to write such great answers.

Oh, and an alternative sub run by the same moderators could be quite hilarious. Might I suggest r/removedfromaskhistorians with absurd answers that get removed posted there?

Mods on this server definitely don't get enough praise for how much bullshit they deal with. This is by far one of the best subreddits on the entire site in no doubt due to the strict moderation in cutting out the chaff. I'm too tired to make an actual appreciation post but I do thank each and every mod, and the patrons who frequent the sub who post and answer questions in a respectful manner. Seriously I have no idea how people can think this subreddit sucks unless they're wanting some kind of mainstream subreddit that allows them to post bad memes and reposted jokes and questions/answers over and over again.

I'm pretty sure everyone who complains about this sub is a worthless piece of trash.

Y'all are the best mods on this god damn hellscape of a website. Thank you for fighting the good fight.

As a mod of another ask academics sub, holy shit this text rules!

I really appreciate these types of posts. You guys are well-regulated, and highly moderated, and you can back everything up with sources, which sadly, is not something you can find everywhere nowadays.

Hey. Just adding another 'I love this page, never change' to the chorus.

I just wanna say that you don't need to be a historian to post here and do it well, you just need to understand historiography and be well read on the subject. You are not making original arguments here - you are usually summarising those of actual historians, and you don't need a PhD to do so. I'm no expert and I've had no problem contributing on the odd occasion an opportunity presents itself.

I am guessing something happened? This post reads a little less... calm and collected that what we usually see in this excellent subreddit. I supposed we all need to blow off some steam from time to time, even the hard working people of r/AskHistorians.

Regardless, keep up the good work. This subreddit is a treasure.

I appreciate this sub so much. I am a scientist, not a historian, but we both value substantiated, well-structured writing. I have never had and likely will never have anything to contribute to this sub but I learn so much from it. Thank you and know that your efforts are appreciated.

Haha, you guys are truly the best. This sub couldn't exist without such a rad mod team, so thank you.

Could you please at least arrange for there to be a warning in the heading when a post has been so heavily moderated that nothing remains but notices of deletion?

It is very frustrating to be suckered into clicking on what seems like an interesting post, and finding it empty.

Love the mods, the sub and the content. Thanks for all the hard work and effort that went into making this place so quality.

I love you mods.

You take no responsibility for the mods holding guns to our heads...and yet your specialty is in Small Arms and Dueling?!? I knew it! IT WAS YOU ALL ALONG DAMMIT!

Can't get rid of me! I'll lurk until I die on this sub, or have sourced relevant input, but fat chance there.

This seems like the right time to ask this:

Is there a place where it is both acceptable and commonplace for laypeople to discuss the questions posted here? Anecdotes, questions, etc. All the stuff you'd normally look at, not despise, but definitely delete/remove. Like /r/bestoflegaladvice, or /r/bestofaskhistorians but in use.

Hey! Ok let me preface this by saying that I love the content of this sub, and admire the moderating work done here. I've learned so much about history, and that is in a good part due to the strict rules on well-researched, comprehensive answers.

That said, I'm not sure I get the point of this post or the round table? It sounds a bit silly to hold a round table where any dissent is met with a 'fuck off'. If it is not for discussing dissent, could you explain the purpose of the round table (and of this post, which doesn't seem to clarify rules much further than 'dont complain')?

And like I said before, I myself have no dissent. I am just sincerely confused by the post.

The moderation of this sub is the reason it's one of my favorites. I am always guaranteed quality answers and sources should I want to learn more.

Boo! This roundtable lacks a bunch of angry modmail for us the public to read for amusement!!!

jk keep on doing your excellence <3

I'm new here and I dont understand reddit edicate very well. Thank you to everyone who has done extensive research and the long sometimes painstakingly hours of research we get to benefit from. You the real MVP's

The only thing I don't like about this subreddit is that it ruins other subs where the mods don't do half as good a job as you. :)

Every now and then I come across a question I'm really interested in, only to find little to no answers or, in quite a few cases, a long string of deleted replies. That can be frustrating, but nevertheless, I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into making sure this sub has quality content and well researched answers, made by redditors who are (to some extent) experts in their fields. I'd much rather have a complete and thoroughly thought out answer to read instead of someone's hunch, a link to a Wikipedia article or an obscure blog post by someone who calls himself a history enthusiast.. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for running this great sub!

Just wanted to pop in and say everyone here does amazing work and deserves the world for their efforts and their patience! Never change. (Is the the one time this kind of post is allowed??)

lol

I enjoyed this. I concur with urging the addressees to fuck off.

I can deal with the fact that many answers are against the rules, or don't have enough scholarly verification to qualify for this sub.

I just wish there weren't dozens of times when great questions get upvoted a thousand times, but no valid historian ever answers. I guess I was mistaken in assuming that "askhistorians" meant there were definitely some historians available to answer.

If I'm not qualified to provide any answers, that's on me for not working for it. But, I thought I could still kick back and read, and learn. Too often, this sub just gives me new questions to think about, with no answers.

Even though I'm sure, "fuck off" applies to me, since I'm not willing to simply agree that askhistorians has nothing to improve upon, I still really appreciate the other links to history subs. I'll still keep this one, since occasionally there are some interesting answers. I'll just take it off of priority.

What I learned from this sub is that almost all history questions can we answered with [removed] from u/[deleted].

Pd: I love the sub and the mods, really making a difference.

This subreddit is the best, the mods are the best, you guys are the best.

Also, I think approaching 80% of my comments are now "AskHistorians is the best."

Hi, there's a mod with a gun to my head. ^(I totally approve of your moderation though, good job everybody.)

I just want to say that I like the reference in the title.

I cannot explain how much i appreciate this place for being what it is. It's got to be incredibly time consuming, difficult, and thought intensive to run a place like this, even if it's your job or passion. So... thanks to the team, you really help provide an experience that is sorely lacking online

I appreciate the high-quality, moderated content that this sub provides. Bravo to all involved!

This subreddit has the best moderation of all the one I've suscribed. The posts are mostly interesting questions (but never bad, just sometimes outside my interests), and the answers, they take their time, but it's worth it. The historians here are fantastic.

I'm grateful of all the works mods put so this place can be sunshine, rainbow and intellectual enlightment for me.

I serve The Soviet Union /r/AskHistorians

Well, you piqued my interest, r/poop is a thing.

One thing I think would be helpful for the subreddit is an "Answered" tag for posts. Would be nice to see which questions have quality answers without having to open up each post, and it would hopefully cut down on a lot of the complaints about popular questions not having any answers that happens whenever a post hits the front page.

I love reading the posts here because of the excellent work done by the moderators. I can’t imagine what you have to go through but the curatorship you offer is incredible and makes this sub a must read, no matter what the question asked. Thank you for all that you!

you're not in my home with a gun, but you are in my home with a sabre, so.

Thanks for all your hard work!

I know this and that's why I don't say anything unless its a topic I have spent a few years on at the least and can provides citation and resources. This is why I love it hear and know that the ansrews will not be "half ass". The Moderator team keeps the beer hall comments away and I know as a historian myself I can learn something new.

Thank team for making that happen.

I was going to comment on this but I believe I am supposed to let a real historian give it an in-depth treatment. ;)

/Kidding, love this sub! Keep up the good work!

It’s a personal quote of mine that: “History is the least studied, and the least understood, subject in all of Academia. Yet, it is the one subject that everyone seems to be an expert in these days.”

I’m very grateful to the mods on this sub for their constant support at keeping this sub free of the “Wiki Wizzes”. Y’all have made it a place that truly showcases the understanding and re-telling of history. Thank you for allowing me, and inviting me, to participate in this sub.

Consistently the best moderated and most informative subreddit on the site that I know of. Alhough I provide an answer to a question only very occasionally, I've spent countless hours over the years reading through answers provided by others in the sub and it's really helped scratch the history itch I've had, especially since leaving the academic world.

A big thanks to all the moderators, contributors, and not least those asking the questions. Long may the quality of this sub continue.

Thank you for your great work. I never understood why vocal minority (and yes, they are minority) want to change this sub when /r/history already exists.

That was a magnificent read.

Hi, the link for "earlier entry in this series" isn't working (for me at least), is there another link/way to view?

Thanks

I'm not a historian, or even someone with any questions, but I appreciate all the hard work the historians and mods here put in. I've learned a lot that I had no idea I wanted to know about

Thank you!

Gotta ask, why a link to r/Megadeath? Is that just the favored mod crossover subreddit, some inside joke, or just the poster's favorite band? Love them, was taught by one of their ex-drummers when I was in high school, just wondering why. Could have been something like /r/trees or /r/marijuanaenthusiasts, any anime subreddit will take in all kinds of theory questions, pretty much any coding language, or scientific niche, or engineering specific topic, or literally any band subreddit. But we went to Megadeath.

Love it.

Thanks as always for meeting the sub tight and focused. I've learned enough from this sub that when I took a history class while going back to college I only had to open the textbook to get specific data and ruler names. Roman history class and this subreddit deserves the credit for that A.

I love this sub. I find it frustrating sometimes that I can't chime in to thank someone for a great response, but I understand that if everyone did that it would invite too much clutter in that you can't get to the specific answer of the question posed. Other than that, I don't think there's a better mod-ed sub here.

Just to reiterate what I commented to another redditor on this post:

As an all around history enthusiast I absolutely love this sub, the amazing people that constructively add to it via questions i didn't know i had and answers i didn't know i needed and the outstanding mods who help create a sub that I genuinely look forward to seeing on my feed. Thank you a thousand times over to you guys for making this sub great!

I'm just happy i can finally make a comment in this sub. This one of the few subs I actual go to and read. I commend the mods for keeping it clinical. I know lots of stuff about a lot of different things but am thrilled mods don't let degenerates like me post the scantily clad knowledge I have. I appreciate the depth and concise answers the community provides.

Keep up the good work mods!

Thanks to the mods and contributors for all of your hard work.

I'm sorry you've had some bad experiences with jerkwad redditors lately. Truly.

Personally, I really like how this sub is moderated for strictly scholarly and politically unbiased answers for top responses. I will never filter r/AskHistorians out of /all, but I'm sure going to use that feature for a couple other subs, now that I know I can!

Thanks for a great sub. And don't forget to indulge in some high quality self care.

While I'm a lurker because I'm not the best at all things history, I am always seriously impressed with the way the sub is perfectly moderated. One of my favourite things on reddit is seeing a post from AskHistorians on my feed with which I can actually follow the discussion. This does not happen often due to quality of both the questions and answers on here. Basically what I'm trying to say is....good job

Quality moderation is why this sub shines for me. Otherwise the sub would just be a homework club, a low effort post here and a typical Reddit humor fest.

Appreciate all the high quality posts here and the experts who go through the effort of such detailed responses out. Ive learned so many things about my own country which otherwise I wouldnt have come across.

Big thanks to all the insightful posters and the mods who let them stand out.

Well shit what did i miss lol?

First comment here from a years long lurker:

Thank you all for your hard work and keeping this place as high quality as it is! I moderated a fairly large subreddit for a few years and I know how monotonous and ungrateful the mod job can be. I thoroughly enjoy reading almost every post here, especially because it isn't filled with the same funny-witty-reddit-style comment sections and instead just pure knowledge. Thank you!

Love this. Please know that you mods are loved and well supported. This is a last bastion against the trolls. Don't let it fall!

I have a degree in Roman History and a significant professional interest in modern warfare and I don't feel confident enough to comment here.

I don't say this to complain, I'm saying this to praise the quality of the comments this place encourages. r/History is a nice place for casual discussion, but the stuff I've read here has helped me learn a lot, both from the content of the replies themselves and from books that have been recommended. It's one of my absolute favorite subreddits, and nothing about it needs to change.

Hear, hear!

I love this sub.

Please don't ever change the rules. I love this sub, and I love that low-quality answers are immediately and ruthlessly removed. It is so wonderful to come to space that is properly curated, that honours effort and education, that respects truth and tries to filter out the chaff.

Thank you. Don't ever change.

This is such a passive aggressive post...

I love it <3

Made my weekend! Thanks for for a great sub, you folks are the best :)

Question: should every subreddit have an associated meta subreddit to discuss meta-topics without polluting the subject discourse? I personally think yes, but others are encouraged to contribute.

I enjoy this sub because you keep people from commenting on subjects they don’t understand. Such a refreshing and different place from most subreddits. Never change!!!

It might just be me, but the links on your About page don't work! Might be stopping people from understanding some rules. That should be fixable, even if fixing assholery isn't.

As an addendum, if you are in the group that thinks this place is pretty neat, don't forget to check out our upcoming AskHistorians Digital Conference! You'll find information on the panels, keynote, and networking on the:

#Conference Website

If you want to be the first to know about Conference events and scheduling, make sure to sign up for the newsletter!

Newsletter signup

I quite enjoy this sub, thanks to everyone who's posting! I really feel I've learned a lot and it's made me more interested in history in general.

there probably is a subreddit to share pictures of your poop too.

Uh, we did it, Reddit? -> /r/pooping

We can always see how a subreddit becomes worse and worse as soon as it becomes popular. To the point that I unsubscribe from these subs because of it. At this point, I am hoping that the subreddits that I like don't become too popular, because then they will lose their good moderation and it will become bad.

The reason that subreddits change when they become popular is because of poor moderation. We have all seen some of it in those big subreddits.

Askhistorians is different, because it didn't change. I am astonished how new users never read the rules and never read the sticky comments and never ever stop trying to break the rules and still complain that their comment got removed.

When I give an example of a big subreddit that has good moderation, the only one I can think of is AskHistorians. So thank you for your efforts. And never change and bow to those who complain about it.

Kind Regards

I REALLY love history! I think it's the greatest thing since they found the first recorded writing on sliced bread!

But I don't get to reply to questions much because I'm not an actual historian or a professional. And I'm okay with that. I want this sub to be filled with quality answers to real questions and things I can learn from rather than already know. So I suppourt the mods and the hard work you're doing!

Thanks, mods!

Where’s the miscellaneous thread, I can’t seem to find it

Complaining about how the Mods do their job is highly relevant, no matter how much the Mods might think otherwise. Applying the rules evenly is something the Mods do struggle with.

There was a very interesting question posed a month or so ago that received no answers. Due to the fuckwitted, X-Factor format of this forum, there's no way to bump it.

Can I copy and paste it and repost it? It wasn't my question in the first place, if that makes a difference. Thanks

I'm quite new here; why do some people hate this subreddit?

Now I'm curious if there was some straw that broke the mod's back

Well said Georgy!

then fuck off

Um, does this break the rules?

Just want to share my experience on Reddit's recommended posts.

I've been on the receiving end of "you might like this post". I don't look at it too closely and assume it's a "this post is trending on AskHistorians" message. I tap on it, read the top answer, get utterly confused and often quite angry and then realise I'm on AskHistory.

Doesn't excuse any uncivil behaviour, but occasionally you may get people wandering in here via that same mechanism who are genuinely in a complete state of confusion.

I love the moderation here. The posts are of great quality because of the moderation.

That said I'd love for you to repeat the April Fool's challenge monthly...

You know the game. One of the posters posts a description of a historical event or person, and reddit has to guess.

Thanks y'all

For some reason when I click on some of the threads here, I can't read below the 1st comment which is invariably a bot saying "welcome to askhistorians".

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's experienced this. I think less bot postings for this sub in general is a good idea

Thank you for this.

​

I actually have a question related to the "History" subreddit.

​

I started a timeline of Human Evolution and Development (for lack of a better name) where I collected the dates of first examples of archaeological finds, geologic data, and genetic analysis of when things evolved.

​

I did this because when I see all these different history info pieces, I am curious how they fit together. And figured others may be interested to. So I created short entries of each thing, that can be verified thru Smithsonian, history sources, Wikipedia entries, even the US government data tracking public sources.

​

And when I submit to /History, am rejected for it being considered a "personal blog." I point out to the moderators that I feel they are mistaken since the data can be verified, is just data points with attached dates, and also features locations. I posted the list to other history related subreddits and get some positive feedback.

​

I want to post it to /History to get more input, more data points I may have missed. I also think it is pretty neat all the data put together.

​

Curious what you guys think.

This was way too long, got bored and didn't finish reading it. Why are all historians so overly verbose?

Seriously, thanks to all the mods and contributors for running such an on-point, interesting subreddit in your spare time.

The way this subreddit curates posts so that only high quality responses are allowed is exactly the reason I’m subscribed here. Keep up the good work!

Damn, son!
Not only did you pull a Jim Gaffigan, you referenced GG Allin!
I already liked this sub (and your contributions, you crazy kid), but now I'm never not gonna lurk here forever.
Good onya.

When I was taking a history class this sub helped me a ton with sourcing some subjects. It's one of my favorite subs on reddit.

Are there people really trying to push back against these rules? completely crazy.

Thank you for all the work that keeps this subreddit operating at a quality level pretty much unmatched on this website.

Im confused. What do people not like about ask historians? Is it just the lack of memes? Or the no tolerance of unsourced answers? I mean my time here has always been an enjoyable one. I even came in with bias toward some subjects I had opinions on and completely flipped my thoughts after reading passages from one expert or another, which in turn opened a new approach for me towards history and thinking before speaking in general. I dont know about the rest of you but that sounds like what a teacher aims to do, so I am pretty goddamn happy I'm getting a lesson for free. But beyond that I've never, NEVER seen a moderator who injects themselves somewhere they shouldnt have, and that's impressive on this platform. And never seen a rude response or comment deletion or anything. Is it just that petty stuff?

cringe

Would it help y'all any to put the sub in some sort of mode where for the first 8-12 hours of a question all answers need to be mod approved rather than having to remove all the crap? Might also help keep the crap from coming in if theres a disclaimer that their post wont be seen so all those 'helpers' who best-effort anecdotes and half-memories to fill the empty space leave well enough alone

I enjoy reading the content in this sub. Never commented before. I have zero issue with the style of aggressive moderation, and I believe that it's what makes this sub worthwhile. Please keep it up.

That being said, the general disdain for your readers in this post is shameful. It drips of academic gatekeeping, moderator power-tripping, and is off-putting to everyone who isn't already in your echochamber. Having exacting standards doesn't mean you need to be an asshole to everyone. You can be firm, uncompromising on standards, and demand quality while still being welcoming and respectful. This thread is a demonstration that these moderators lack the capacity to operate with that nuance.

The moderator team should realize that you don't have a monopoly on high-quality academic content. Your content is very good, to be sure, but I am privileged enough to have access to plenty of resources that provide an equal level of academic rigor, yet don't treat me like shit and openly tell me to fuck off.

I will be following the provided instructions for hiding this content from my feed, which is sad because I greatly enjoy it. Again, it's not based on disagreement with the moderation policies or discontent with the content. It's just based on the attitude of mods in this posts. I spend enough time in my university office dealing with snobby academic jeks trying to make themselves feel better by belittling others. I don't need to do it on reddit.

Give em hell!

Do you think it would be a good idea for automod comment deletion messages that don't mention other relevant subreddits with lower quality standards to be changed to refer people to them?

I love this and as an aside question

Should I go back and finish my history degree? LoL

It's a little odd that in the midst of a diatribe in which you call other people egoistic and poorly socialized you deify yourself by capitalizing the first letter of the word 'mods'.

The only thing telling us you've unsubscribed does is let me know to add an RES tag so I can laugh a few months later when you slink back in to ask a question.

Nobody is going to remember this whenever they unsubscribe weeks, months, or years from now. All telling people that you do this does is make you feel like you're having an effect on people who have had an effect on you.

RES tags are pretty lame. You'll probably label someone when you're in a heightened emotional state, and then you'll forget about it and in the future pigeonhole them according to that highly biased judgement.

You could have worded this less like a sailor.

what happened here

While I think the overall ruleset is good, I wish you'd be bit more lenient when deleting posts. I can understand deleting non-ideal answers when there are quality answers, but there have been many times I've seen interesting question here, only to find that the only 2-3 answers have been completely deleted. The way I see it, it would be better to mark those answers with something like (not up to subreddit standards), but keep them until there actually is a legitimate answer.

My only disappointments here are a) the length of time it sometimes takes to get a quality answer, and b) the frequent lack of ANY quality answer.

I’m totally fine with the heavy-handed moderation in the service of keeping this sub full of obscure facts and well-sourced history.

Edit: aww, somebody’s feefees got hurt.

You know you fuck off too...

OK sorry.... sorry...

But can I take a sec to rant:

I'm still a bit salty about getting called racist and getting a temp ban for using a term I did not know people considered racist.
Specifically I used the term "Japs" to refer to the WW2 Japanese Navy.

What makes me salty is the post was like 5 deep, and I think the post I was responding to that was misleading got left up. Essentially they made is sound like the Germans turned over all the Asian holdings of the countries they conquered and none of them put up a fight. Specifically the dutch.

I'm a little tilted that it was automod that said so and I had know idea at first what I had said wrong. When I appealed and the mod said it was other Asians like Koreans or Chinese could get offended and they were one of them, I kinda understood, But the post in context I thought it was clear referring to the Japanese ww2 military.(I wasn't sure whether it was navy or army when I made the post, I needed an ambiguous term.)

What I'm most pissed off about is allowing a post to stand saying the dutch just handed over the east indies oil patch. It wasn't that simple. Maybe I was wrong, That's why I was asking a response to someone who provided an answer.

Beforehand I wouldn't of been able to imagine anyone with a problem with that which is apparently most offensive term, and it seems time appropriate from watching and reading news of the time.

To me this felt like a historic term. Is there a list of what is allowed and not? can I call a ww1 german a hun? Can I call a US soldier a dough boy? is using the term a tommy ok? Can I call a ww2 us soldier a GI? Tell me what I am not allowed to say... please.

I'm still flustered about this.... and yes I did stop paying attention to this sub for 6-months to a year.

Why not create a specific comment for common folks? Like a lot of the time I'd like to chime in but I don't know enough to post an essay so I'm left with just upvoting and nodding along

This entire post is an example of performative m smugposting. Who is the audience here, really? None of the jerkwads you speak of will be deterred by this post. The horde has never been and will never be deterred because it's made up of individual idiotic actors who don't or can't learn, besides. So this post is self-masturbatory in a way that actually reveals the inevitable failure of moderation.

I love this sub, I love your answers here, and I commend you and the other mods for fighting to protect real fucking sourced and vetted writing from the hordes of shit on the internet, but this sort of thing makes me worry. It makes me worry because, ever so slightly, it makes me understand what used to be impossible for me to understand: anti-intellectualism.

Tee hee. Bad words and antagonistic tone.

I really enjoy this subreddit (casual enjoyment -- I don't post/comment, but I'll read whatever shows up on my homepage) and I've always been impressed by the moderation and quality of some answers.

As a moderator myself, I understand the extreme frustration that comes from casual readers, rule-breakers, and random fresh accounts showing up to contribute nothing more than complaints like "this place sucks" or "this sub used to be sooo much better" and such.

That said... I find this post pretty strange and childish coming from the same team that does such a (seeming to me!) good job with rules and civility elsewhere. I admit I don't have all the information; maybe I'm just not here enough to see all the outrage that would cause you guys to make a post telling users to screw off repeatedly.

I don't want to sound insulting to the mod team -- again, huge respect! -- however, this post makes me wonder if I should unsubscribe. Maybe this subreddit isn't the place I thought it was? I think I'll unsub, but all the best to the mods and I hope if anything is going on with the mod team or certain users that it gets sorted and this community continues to thrive. And sorry again if I just "don't understand" what the team has been dealing with lately. :-)

For real, I’m workin on removing this sub from my reddit experience asap, it is lacking in quality content more often than not and I’d rather not see it. Period. Take your self righteous shit elsewhere. Edit: oh that’s right, I can’t ban you from my feed I can only decline to follow your shit . Yuck.

Pretentious bullshit. If you don't like your creation don't dump your shit on redditors? You demand people show respect with you and you make this demand by telling people to fuck off. This sub is a result of your doing moderators, not anyone else's. And save your vitriol for people who deserve it and grow up. How could you possibly believe that the people you are complaining about would see this and think, "Oh shit! That's me. I'd better change my behaviour because the mod team got salty." I agree that some clowns come in here and do and say clownish things, but that is reddit as a whole. Clowns are in every sub. Get over it because they will never care about your intentions for the sub. Trolls and arseholes don't care. The only people who are reading this are the subscribers that you want and who will behave properly and according to the rules. A wall of angry text won't change that because the people you are complaining about will never read it. You just abused your own subscribers because as u/Landarius115 said

Who is the audience here, really? None of the jerkwads you speak of will be deterred by this post. The horde has never been and will never be deterred because it's made up of individual idiotic actors who don't or can't learn, besides.

I agree with every word of this quote. Not necessarily with the rest f his comment though. I love this sub as much as anyone else, but I don't need to be spoken down to like that.

Yeah frankly this place sucks every topic just is a long list of deleted posts without any validated historians input completely killing any discourse. I think there should be a way to highlite a historians answer or input but to completely stifle any discussion on the matter makes this sub suck. I cant help but feel a little resentment when i click on a frontpage post with no answer and every comment deleted. Like thanks for wasting my time and my click.

I DO appreciate the answers generated by the contributors to r/askhistorians. But the experience is genuinely sub optimal. I cannot recall a more self-righteous, unself-critical mod post in my 13+ years on reddit. You could be listening to the discontent and using it as an impetus to innovate and find ways to make a sub with excellent content a better experience for readers. Instead, you flaunt your refusal to hear feedback or even entertain the notion that anything could be improved. So yes, I guess I’ll accept your invitation to unsubscribe. If you ever decide to get off your high horse, hear what your subscribers are saying, and find a way to direct new questions to historians and answers to regular readers, I’d be eager to resubscribe.

[Removed]

I appreciate the core value of /r/askhistorans. But I feel there is huge missing element of discussion, speculation, and exploration of interesting subjects.

My recommendation is have the auto-mod create a speculation comment that can be replied to for pure subject speculation and discussion. Anything outside of that can be removed.

You might do the same for jokes, just because the topics are serious, doesn't mean we can't have fun.

If those sections don't want to be seen, then they can be collapsed. It keeps the "riffraff" out of the primary historical discussions at the top level, but still allows a little bit of lateral freedom for the rest of us who appreciate a little levity and theorizing.

[edit] Seeing my civil, thoughtful and respectful discussion is being downvoted by people that don't understand the basic ideology behind downvotes on reddit, I now agree with the Mods. The masses are too stupid to be entrusted with free and open discussion.

[edit 2] Seriously fuck this community. I try to have a civil discourse in a roundtable thread where, by definition of the term, all ideas are welcome. I'm greeted with downvotes because you asshats can't handle someone who has different ideas? To the users of this site who have forgotten that the downvote button is not the 'disagree' button - eat a bag of dicks. Take your head out of your asses and have your own thoughts instead of kowtowing to the mob mentality.

Don't be rude.

Edit: Well, to be more specific- I very much like this sub. I have posted a couple of questions and I don't think anything of mine has been removed.

This post does kind of make me want to leave, though. I understand what you are saying, but it's very condescending in what is already a condescending sub.

I'll think about it. Thanks for the good answers, though.

I feel like you could have made this point without the fucking expletives. Damn it, tighten up ya jib Georgy.

​

edit AH! downvotes! I forgot the fuckin' /s.

While I appreciate the sentiment are the multiple fuck offs and 'jerkwad' really necessary?

Has someone or something touched a nerve recently?

This has been the sub with one of the highest standards of writing on reddit in my experience, and ironically it is this moderator post which diminishes that.

Edit: downvotes? Quite the roundtable. Interesting culture this subreddit has cultivated.

Oh yes, you're that sub with the questions answered entirely with [deleted]. Actually I appreciate how you signal that this place is not worth my effort to comment in.

Putting it in the most basic terms, if you don't like this subreddit, then fuck off!

Okay! Right back at you, ___'s!

I've been a subscriber to this subreddit for almost 10 years, I got my bachelors degree in history in May, I love history and I constantly learn new things here, but if you're going to act like a bunch of dictatorial babies, then you can fuck right off too!

It's precisely this notion of 'my way or the highway,' that has always made me feel frustrated by this subreddit, and frankly I think that same sense of superiority is why academic historians aren't taken seriously by society writ large.

If you're response to well meaning criticism is to tell people to fuck off, then I guess I have no choice to follow your advice, because y'all are clearly lacking in introspection.

You're supposed to be moderators and historians, so why the fuck are you wasting your time writing a passive aggressive post telling people to fuck off? I'm honestly disappointed in all of you.

We don't mean any of this in a mean way

Well then delete this post and try again, because you fucking failed in that regard, didn't you?

librarian who kicked you out of the silent reading room for blasting Megadeth at full volume

Except that my librarian doesn't have a persecution complex and launch into self-righteous rants about what assholes their clientele is. I know that y'all are volunteers and not getting paid for this, but legit? Deal with your mental health challenges by yourself or with a therapist, and don't make your anger my fucking problem. If moderating this subreddit makes you so unhappy, then why don't you take responsibility for your own happiness and resign as a moderator?

So, it was a fun ride, but we have come to a parting of the ways.

Ask historians is probably the worst subreddit I have seen. I like to browse it to see the daily removed dumpster fire. Bravo.

Sentiment appreciated, but telling people to "fuck off" while presenting a veneer of academia is pretty hypocritical. How about you go fuck yourself?