I'd like to flip this around, actually: I don't think AH readers realize how much it means to me--to us--that you're out there interested in history, and in getting into the grit of history instead of TIL.

Because the thing that unites everyone here isn't just that we love history. It's that we love sharing it. And look, it's the Internet--every single person reading this thread has been That Person shouting into the social media void, at one point or another. AskHistorians isn't a void, and that's because of the community as a whole--posters, regular lurkers, people who click on a link on their front page as a lark.

"I never thought I would be interested in this topic, but your answer was completely fascinating" are the best words that have ever been posted on AskHistorians and will ever be. And as a mod, I can attest: some of version of that is posted every single day. Sometimes more than once.

Thank you for that. All of you.

I don’t know if I’ve brought this up before, but seems like a good time to share: a couple summers ago I was interning at a regional theater that was going to produce The Crucible in the upcoming season, and I was tasked with doing what was essentially light (so to say, not super academic) dramaturgical research—research about the play’s history, subject matter, and themes—to help develop marketing strategies for the show. I’m honestly not sure what came out of that research, but I spent quite a bit of time scrolling through old /r/AskHistorians posts to find information about witch hunts, Salem, and McCarthyism that might be interesting and worth pursuing further. When I told my boss (who I think was vaguely familiar with the forum but not a follower) that I was using this place as a resource, he was certainly impressed, and probably a bit surprised. This was around the time that I was first transitioning from casual lurker to more active member around here.

Which I guess is a way of saying: yeah, AH is great for people who want to learn more about history, or need help with some sort of history-based project. But the extent to which it can be helpful I think goes well beyond what people would expect. It’s an incredibly useful resource.

I'd like to echo my colleague's sentiment when I say this: we do what we do because of people like you.

We're a diverse bunch, generally speaking, and I think it's important to note than not everyone in this community is a trained or professional historian, which is part of our mission. Oftentimes people get discouraged by our strictness when it comes to moderating, but never, in any aspect of our rules, will you find somewhere that says that you need to be a professional, published historian to contribute (I wish I was published, but then again, I wish I had anything worth publishing).

When I started contributing answers to AskHistorians, after spending a few years lurking and thinking that I could never write things as in-depth as people like /u/sunagainstgold (I still can't, lol) I never would've dreamed of becoming a flaired user, much less a moderator.

But over my time as an active member of the community, I've come to learn that, above all else, our mission focuses around three things: accessibility, inclusivity and visibility. I love history, and I love working towards making academic scholarship more accessible to as many people as possible, while making use of my knowledge and our platform to give visibility to what I consider to be often overlooked topics and stories. But I think that every one of us, including yourself OP, are equally important members of what has grown to be my favorite place in both the internet and academia.

Yes! I got a BA in History but have since gone on to work in a different field and never took further steps to become a professional historian. Nevertheless, I still enjoy history, and I feel that I've learned a great deal about methodology for my own personal edification from reading the well-constructed answers of the selfless historians who, for no remuneration, dedicate their time and professional skills to this subreddit for the noble aim of public outreach and understanding.

One of the greatest gifts this sub has given me is the thought to stop and think before I post. A good question takes time to formulate, and even longer to write.

Imagine how much better the internet as a whole would be if everyone did this.

So thank you for that everyone.

Also thank you mods for being so inclusive. I've provided an answer here that I was worried wouldnt be up to snuff, but nobody else was responding so I did it myself. It wasn't removed, and that is genuinely a point of pride for me.

Sometimes I see the “8 comments” and go check it out to see they were all deleted. And am very grateful after thinking “gosh, it takes so long to get answers” then immediately realizing it would all be a shitshow without the diligent work done curating the sub. Not just some guy like me who’s an armchair espousing incomplete bullshit. I LOVE references.

+1 for thanks and gratitude.

I'm pretty recently flaired, and this is the first time in a very long time that I've felt like a real historian again. Long story short: Got PhD, looked at job market, got a couple of interviews, got a much better offer in a completely unrelated field, and now I'm a project manager. But history remains my passion, and teaching it is a vocation in the truest, Latinate sense of that word (a calling). Developing the discipline to only answer questions where I could provide the requisite depth was an exercise in and of itself--but so useful. And questions come up here all the time that make me think, "Hmm, never thought of that, but I know where to look," and off I go to research. Or I wait for a colleague to answer--and I'm learning a lot outside my specialist fields. Like a lot of historians, I have some fairly wide ranging interests, but don't have the academic background in them--so there is a lot of learning going on, probably even more than I'm actually contributing with my answers.

I am in the STEM field and we have been told so much about how important science communication (making science easily accessible/understandable for the public) is and were even trained on how to use proper techniques for communicating about it. I feel that that's what you guys here essentially did with history, making it accessible for the general public and nonexperts, and I really wish we could replicate that with a science sub.

One thing I really love about this this subreddit is that, as long as your question is respectful and a serious inquiry, there are no stupid questions. Even regarding topics that may not get much respect in academic journals.

For example, a few days ago I came across a thread discussing the history of Dungeons and Dragons and the linked response led to a really great thread discussing the history of the game and tabletop gaming industry in general.

I have only been lurking here about a year but after my BA and ending my MA I can say that many of the professionals enjoy answering questions for many of the reasons stated. It gives us the ability to open a line of communication to the public in a meaningful way outside of strict academia. At times academia like social media can be an echo chamber and its through the mods and the professional nature of many historians here that there is a strive for rigorous answers that offer more insight than " I've studied it take my word for it". As peers we get insight into areas outside our specialties which I have found rather fruitful. And to those who ask the questions I hope you realize that not only are you asking questions in history or about it for your personal inquiries, but your asking us to be introspective about our knowledge of the field which is of vital importance to those who may want to teach or better understand our grasp of the methods and materials. I don't always answer questions because sometimes my peers are much more knowledgeable. When I am afforded the opportunity to answer a question or add to it I am happy to have imparted what I know. We all have had a hand to play here and I for one am very grateful for it.

This has been a hard year for everyone. I work in the medical field, so, yeah, it has been rough. The escape of writing questions, writing answers, and working on one of the AskHistorians conference panels with absolutely brilliant colleagues was a light in a dark time. I've learned so much from this community over the past few years. There is a form of sublime and supreme joy in working with people you admire, to create something necessary, novel, and good. Thank you all, from those who read or listen to the podcast, to those who ask questions, to those who are always there with a ready answer, for the chance to experience the joy of this place.

Would it be alright to ask if there is a similar sub that deals with issues from 2000 and back? I've taken an interest to the Bush 2 era, and how some of those issues are being viewed by academics.

I am not college educated, so clearly not a historian by any stretch. I have an interest in history thanks in large part to a wonderful high school teacher I had.

I hope it’s not out of line, but shout out to Jeff Page and Bruce Kelly from Lake Stevens High School in Washington. It’s been 20 years or so and those two gave me a lifelong love of history and the written word and my life is much richer for it.

This is my favorite place on the internet. I get answers to questions I would never have thought to ask. I am profoundly grateful that so many people take time out of their busy lives to share with the rest of us.

Giving another perspective, I know how much this sub means to readers and starting contributors because I have seen how much it has done for my understanding of history. Nor just the many things it has taught me about so many topics, but the way it has helped teach me to think more historically and to pursue the right avenues of inquiry to understand my own research interests better. At the risk of outing myself, I didn't study history in undergrad, though I have been doing hobbyist history reading for as long as I can remember. This sub showed me the difference between just learning a lot of facts or reading a lot of sources and evaluating information more critically. It's challenged me to think about what it means to study history, and reignited some of my more philosophical questions about the nature of the past and our knowledge of it. I owe this community so much.

As someone who is pursuing her M.Arch. in Architectural History and Theory, stuff from this portal absolutely blows my mind. I get to search stuff, which leads me to searching more stuff, which leads me everywhere and nowhere. That's a good thing.

It's not realised how important History actually is, and the kind of role that it plays in explaining human behaviour. It's a very complex subject, AND learning from my course on Decolonisation of Texts, there is a lot of unconscious bias involved while writing/researching/analysing anything related to the past and how it is interpreted.

This is the best subreddit. I have a huge list of book recommendations I add to when you guys mention them.

That goes both ways:

You don't want to know how much the questions here make me procrastinate by looking up a paper or book chapter on something asked, but where I don't know enough on to write up an answer yet...and sometimes, even within the most innocent question there's an idea which feels worth pursuing sometimes, and which is too obvious to be on the radar of a more knowledgeable person.

To the mods: this is one of the highest (if not highest) quality subs on this website to me. The curation is excellent and how y'all decide what's high quality enough for the sub. At the same time, you all still have a sense of humor about things and cultivate a light atmosphere!

I just came across this sub because I was Googling WWII and the atrocities committed and a great thread from about 5 years ago popped up about Auschwitz, Treblinka, etc.

One of the more fascinating reads ever. I learned a lot. Thanks for having me — just an interested observer.

As one of the regular lurkers who constantly visits this sub and devours the info here, I also want to extend my gratitude to everyone involved. This is a very special corner of the internet.

I really enjoy this subreddit. It is good to have a well thought out question, if for no other reason because it makes sense to limit the scope of your question to something that can reasonably be answered in this format. If you want to learn about the origin and history of macrame, Google it, use Wikipedia, whatever. There are other resources available. If you want to know how we arrived at 12 inches in a foot when clearly most of us have ten fingers, well maybe this is the place. Anyway, thanks a lot for what you do. I have learned a lot about things I never thought about and it has been immensely interesting

I'm likely a bit biased but I too quite like this place. And its all because of the fantastic community and contributors. From the question askers to the answer writers. And there's plenty of ways to get a flair, you don't even need to know a ton about history! Ask us about becoming a FAQ Finder, or keep dropping questions and maybe get an Interesting Inquirer!

Love this post OP. This truly is my favorite subreddit. I'm a history major, but with nowhere near the amount of knowledge some of these people have. I learn something new every day. And some posts have sent me down rabbit holes for hours in my school library. I'm learning a broad, generalized history for my current degree, but this sub really hits some amazing niches and gets to the core of so many things. It always has me digging deeper, and I think its not only valuable to budding historians, but to literally everyone else because it shows how fascinating and multi faceted the field of history is. Really appreciate everyone here that participates!

I am not even an armchair historian, I know very less or absolutely nothing about most topics discussed here but the quality of the answers n also most questions in this sub is absolutely brilliant. The fact that it's heavily moderated in the right way has led to a sub which has only lead to right information being shared which is very important. Kudos to the moderators for maintaining this difficult standard.

Honestly, this subreddit is one of the most underrated subreddits on this web site. I don’t always read every answer but words can’t thank you enough for the answers. So many things I am interested about that a simple google search can’t answer

To piggy back off of this. My best friend is really into history and got me into history as well. History was something i didn’t know i liked until someone passionate enough came along and talked about it in a way that i understood. While anyone can open a book like a historian and take in facts, think about it critically, and compare what they learned to other things. Most people dont want to go that far. It’s a shame because there are valuable things that need to be known. The point being even the “average” history enthusiast can change a lot of minds. They can serve as a translator to what happened. You know something a lot of people don’t.

Ya I enjoy it. Have for years. Good long reads sometimes. Never post or comment though. This isn't the sub for all that. More of a read only place.

Yeah, you guys are the true scrutari of Reddit. Your epistemic discipline is admirable.

I'm a pop science writer and part time researcher for various projects. I also did a PhD, and learned the power, and discipline, of using sources and pursuing rigor (even if you don't achieve it by far, you know where your arguments stand).

I learned a tremendous amount from AH, and very, very large part of this was perspective. A type of knowledge I tend to be interested in, even specialize in. The careful intricacy of the simplest questions — which are usually the most treacherous — gets unpacked here and given incredibly unintuitive, intriguing twists.

Even if you don't pursue a single line of inquiry that gets mentioned in AH answers, ever, you still come away enriched, with improved skills of shifting and turning your perspective and examining your presuppositions; and also, which is the most interesting thing to me, with an improved intuitive sense of "human understanding". That's a homebrew, personal theory, but I regard this understanding as a gut feeling which, — without imposing your values or opinions on other people, especially in the "foreign country" of the past, — allows you to ask the right questions and pick through available data, while filtering out political double language, reductionism, simplification, and charged generalizations.

In other words, it's a lot like life experience, only by proxy (probably what people for thousands of years have been gathering around the fire to listen to, every time old or seasoned people spoke up).

Honestly, as someone who is in the final year of a Bachelors in History, I find this thread to be extremely impressive. And, the fact that it is heavily moderated only helps. I have read some of the most insightful content here, and while I can't cite this sub on a term paper, your thoughtful comments have helped guide my research at times. I hope to someday write a big answer to help a fellow observer of the past!

Really great OP, I totally agree with your points here. And I would like my thanks as well to all the moderators and contributors on this sub. So, many fascinating discussions and questions I would never have thought about.

One of genuine high points on reddit has been writing a post on here responding to a question that was not removed and deemed informative enough to be useful to others

I just want to say I really appreciate the severe moderation in this sub. This is the only part of reddit that I can trust what I read because of it.

Honestly the best feeling is stopping to answer and by the mere fact that the great mods here allow the answer to stay. You know you're helping someone get the facts in a world where facts are getting harder and harder to come by. The questions on here are also so great actually making me think about some points of view I had not previously thought about.

Honestly r/AskHistorians must be the gold standard for all subreddits that have a (primary) non-entertainment purpose.

The quality of answers and mods’ contribution is brilliant when viewed in isolation and frankly outstanding once we take into account this is an informal medium where contributors are not compensated for their time nor knowledge.

This brings me to a suggestion - perhaps this has been raised previously but should the mods or the wider community get together and select a charity (or perhaps a selection of charities) that have been approved and accepted by the mods and/or wider community as organisations which positively contribute to sharing knowledge and teaching the importance learning and studying historical events from an impartial, unbiased and objective.

One of the most fundamental problems we face today in our societies is the inability of many of the citizens to perform (or even value critical thinking). This is a very common human problem but naturally is more consequential in societies where more responsibility is given to the citizens through basic rights to free speech or freedoms of press.

This subreddit does a fantastic job of trying to spread the emphasis on objective research based on reliable sources and not popular opinion from either left or right or whichever direction is shouting the loudest.

I of course would be happy to give my time for helping if the idea of charitable donations as a productive and real means of showing our appreciation for the time and effort of the mods and contributors.

I love this sub so much. So many things I never would have thought of that are just fascinating to read about, and some random things that help me with the stories I develop. The mods are the best ones I've ever seen on this site and it's so nice to have a subreddit that doesn't devolve into cheap lazy/joke answers.

Also for those just curious. I am nobody with no history knowledge besides school.

Reading the answers makes me realize how complex history is and how complex are problems in this time too.

Thank you so much, for the answers and for the mod's work which is the best in the whole Reddit

Seriously. I am an actual historian (as in, got a bachelor's degree in history, got a few papers published in the field, and intend to get a master's and/or doctorate in history when I have the funds for grad school, unfortunately not currently employed as a historian), but because my area of expertise is relatively narrow, this subreddit is quite often the best source of info for me on subjects I am unfamiliar with. I just wish I had the time and resources on hand to make my replies as well sourced as some of the other folks here (I tend to only surf reddit when I'm at work, and my work doesn't permit me access to my bookcase, or any nearby libraries). This subreddit is awesome, and the curation of the mods is the reason for that. I have had my replies and questions deleted before, and when that happens, I generally can't even get mad because they explain why it was deleted, and then usually DIRECT YOU TO THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION ANYWAY. They're just that good.

Seriously, what's being offered in here is nothing less than a service.

This post went a very different direction from what I thought it would based on the clickbait title.

I thought OP would be condemning morons spreading misinformation about subjects they know nothing about. Wouldn't want people thinking OP's mom was easy.

And the bootlicker who thanked all of us armchair historians for reading the misinformation? Now that was a circle jerk if I ever did see one.

(/s of course. I actually like learning stuff from this sub please don't ban me for making a joke)

The problem is that, while there's a wealth of good data here, reddit's search function sucks. For a start, there's no way to search on comment content, which is usually where the meat in this sub is found. You have to hope someone asked a question which contained your search terms.

I never post on here because I always think I don't anywhere near enough to ever answer. I like seeing how much there is to learn, but it also makes me feel frankly stupid and ill prepared to strive to become a teacher.

Love this sub so much. I started a PhD in Classics and decided it wasn't for me, but I have so much respect for all the grad students and professors out there finding time to contribute on this sub :)

A big shoutout to /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov and the team who moderates the various threads. There is a lesson here for society as a whole when it comes to references and maintaining a stringent policy for comments and contributions in general without choking debate

Lurker here! Definitely is a special sub and wanted to extend my thanks to all the mods, questions and expertly crafted answers. One day I’ll have a question worthy of being answered here!

I just started posting here recently, right after receiving my PhD. And it's been a blast. It's a great challenge to myself to condense what I know into smaller, more targeted responses for a general audience. It also makes me learn a lot of random little tidbits as I research additional elements of topics I'm writing about. Sometimes, it's even helped me clarify my own thoughts for my professional writing and teaching.

More than anything else, the feeling that I'm writing something that is educating and entertaining thousands of people (if not more) every day is extremely rewarding.

I think my favorite aspect of AskHistorians though is the fact that it it allows people to access high quality, specialized answers to academic questions from people with education and training with no barrier to entry. Seriously, you're getting free mini-lectures and essays from people with professional level education in a subject. That's a beautiful thing, especially in America. I hate the way that academia locks access to the most current knowledge about history behind the paywall of higher education and academic journal subscriptions. I know that we have to be paid for our work, I'm not complaining, but on a personal level, I choose to post here in part out of a personal commitment to the idea that as an educator, at least some of my work should be pro bono, accessible to the public, or both. It's kind of my (admittedly small) way of pushing back against a system that only allows the rich access to higher ed.

I’ve always been interested in the worlds history. But this last month I have been on a mission to learn anything that crosses my mind. I’ve been looking up so many different (random) histories & I literally just found this sub like 10mins ago & I’m so so happy this sub exists. I’ve read just a few posts & I’m hooked lol. So thanks to everyone who participates on here & feeds us the knowledge we lack & crave lol. Here’s to many hours spent on this subreddit 😌😊

This is one of my favorite subs. I have had a lifelong fascination with history and always dreamed of studying it and getting a degree in the field. Life has taken me down a different path for the time being, (had kids young and you know the deal, someone’s got to provide) but my love for history remains. This sub is top notch and reminds me daily that there are other people who share my passion and everyone is so generous, patient and this sub really holds it self to a higher standard than almost anything you’d find on the internet really. Almost daily I find myself going “o wow I didn’t know that, how cool” and it always drives me to study and is honestly usually the starting point of days long digging up info on often obscure or uncommon historical stories. Love you guys, just wanted you to know that this sub has been the starting point for hundreds of hours of amazing learning experiences for me, please keep up the good work, because it means a lot to me. Ok I’m done lol. Great job keeping a clean and informative sub that holds itself to a higher standard, it means a lot to a lot of people.

Thank you, mods and contributors! I regularly sent my Human Sexuality students to this sub for fascinating reads and as a place to ask questions they might not find in ordinary sources. We could only spend two days on the history of sexuality, and many students became quickly fascinated. So thank you all.

I totally agree

I wanted to chirp in and also thank this community for great and detailed insights and awesome things I've learned.

One day I’ll have my PhD in Atlantic history of Latin American history. Mark my words o.o

So true! I've used this sub a good bit during grad school. It's great for finding well sourced, easily digestible information about topics that you can't simply google.

Thanks for your hard work mods, askers, and answerers! :D

One of my top 5 subreddits. Keep up the great work, you are appreciated!

I’ll also add my thanks for sending me down so many fascinating rabbit holes.

Guess I'll use this post to just say that I LOVE the stickied comment with a link to the RemindMe bot. It's so helpful and a great idea. I usually forget I ever clicked on it so get surprised a couple days later with an interesting question waiting for me to read about.

I freaking love history. I love this reddit.

Big thanks to everyone on this sub, I love history and use this as my main source of historical facts. You have really enriched my life, and its a source of real joy for me.

Thanks for the appreciation post OP. Fully agreed and I'll gladly join you. This is one of the greatest places online for someone like me. Me being interested in a lot of things.

All of you extensive answereres. I appreciate you a lot. Over the years you've taught me things I never even had the idea to ask. You're all amazing for taking the time out of your life to spread knowledge where before was none.

Edit: And also a same sized compliment to the mods for keeping this place as wonderfully clean as it is, enabling such a nice place for learning in the first place.

I discovered this subreddit a few days ago, maybe a few weeks, and I immediately turned on notifications for it. It's so rare, but so beautiful, when you find a corner of the world wide web like this one. I've learned so much already and realised, once again, how much more there is out there. Thank you all for your work, for your knowledge, and for sharing it. 💞✨

I also want to say, that as an aspiring writer, this sub has been a massive help with my writing. From understanding how to defeat the infamous horse archers of the steppes, to finding out about Dan Carlsons Hardcore History series, understanding how important merchant traffic and water routes were for the moving of goods, and, just recently, understanding how Imperial Colonialism cannot be looked at with the modern day lense of Globalism and that colonial holdings were more a cheap source of resources than they were keystones to the owning nations economies. This sub has been a wellspring of information that has substantially assisted my efforts to write and create compelling worlds with engaging societies and well developed realistic characteristics.

​

Though I still need to work on the whole writing aspect but just world building so far has been fun enough :D

May this be buried, but every mention that r/askhistorians mods are fun breakers deleting everything reminds me that you guys are one of the few successfully resisting "mainstteamification" that many subreddits fell by.

I love posts like this, it's nice for them all to be appreciated occasionally.

I also find that those that ask basic questions sometimes elicit the most interesting responses