Normally we try to keep the appreciation threads to a minimum, but it's been a hell of a month. So thank you!

I wanted to post an appreciation thread as well but held back so I'm glad this one is being allowed.

In a world of information overload where it is hard to tell truth from fiction, it is good to have a place that has a high standard for what counts as facts.

"History is important. If you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it.” - Howard Zinn (- /u/clamdever)

Honestly it's the only thing of any value on reddit.

I feel like I can trust this sub mostly because I don't see a too many answers supporting any one specific ideology. On the whole it is very balanced between points of view.

Ayyy I am qualified to comment for once lmao

It's really good, and the mods are heroes.

There's one thing. I edit Wikipedia a lot. The quality of this sub is higher, but all that work is kind of ephemeral. Stuff that goes into the Wikipedia stays a long time.

I wish there was some way to get some of the stuff from this sub into the Wikipedia. I can't think of any way, though. You can't just lift info from this sub into the Wikipedia, because you'd need to personally vet the refs, and they're books which you'd have to get a ahold of any anyway Wikipedia requires specific page numbers for specific facts and this sub doesn't operate that way.

O well, just a Christmas wish.

As someone who teaches history now after studying it, I always appreciate this subreddit not only for its answers, but for its appreciation of the historiography of the subjects that are brought up, and most importantly, for the sources that become good book recommendations!

I just like learning. And this sub is great to learn.

History has all the best stories. You can't make this crap up.

As someone with a History BA, I really love the professionalism of this sub as well.

Agreed. I absolutely love how professional this sub is when it comes to controversial fields like history.

Am relatively new to Reddit, and had to learn how to navigate this sub. In my early days was so confused when I saw on my Home page there were 30 comments, clicked...empty. That awful feeling...you know.

Then, I noticed the kind moderators had an option for us: Click for a Reminder. After experimenting with it, I have landed on 4 to 7 days, depending on how provocative I feel the question is. Over the holidays, I did 12 days, but would be so sad when I got the Reminder message and would happily open the link, to see no one had answered the OP...oh...

Clearly, I am locked down and spend a lot of time here when things are tough; I have learned so much! I have a special Bookmark folder for Reddit History posts that I wish to keep...and have just discovered and been exploring the other archived resources here. I could be here for the next year, and may well be...the way the vaccine roll-out is going where I am!

Thank you AskHistorians for giving us the opportunity to express our gratitude!

It’s not just the best sub on Reddit, it’s one of the gems of the entire internet.

I'm going to sound overdramatic, but sometimes I feel like this sub is one of the relatively few things still keeping my faith in humanity alive, or at least humanity on the Internet. Keep up the good work guys, you've built an amazing and valuable thing here!

Agreed, the amount of effort that goes into the replies for questions is astonishing. Also some really interesting questions are asked on this sub and my sponge of a brain is obsessed with knowing more

I love history and also learning new things so this and these others are my favorite subreddits:

r/todayilearned

r/explainlikeimfive

r/NoStupidQuestions

Open to recommendations for other subreddits where people respond kindly and are helpful.

This seems like as good a place as any to share this. I have experienced firsthand the lengths that folks on this sub will go to for the sake of educating and enriching the life of even one random stranger over the internet. One particular example has stuck with me.

In some thread here or another, a user shared some answers from similar older threads as is common practice. I asked how people are able to so quickly find relevant answers from older threads. My comment was, quite reasonably, removed for not being directly related to the topic at hand, but that didn't stop /u/yodatsracist from DM'ing me with some very helpful information which I will reproduce below:

"I wrote a response but your comment has been deleted as off-topic. Here's the response anyway:

I can't speak for the person above, but when I find old threads it's a combination of one of three things:

1. I remember them because I thought "Oh man that's cool!" and it stuck in my head.

2. AskHistorians has a pretty big and thorough FAQ, so if I think, "Oh man, I'm sure that comes up a lot!" I might go directly to the FAQ.

3. If I think "Oh man, that's a good question, I wonder if it's been dealt with before" (or just remember it, as in #1), I'll google it. But as you've noticed, the Reddit search is pretty hit or miss.

It's much easier to use Google. Google has something useful, though: you can search within a specific website. You just write "site:[url]". (You can also specify what type of file you're looking for; I often will type "filetype:pdf" if I'm looking for academic articles.)

So here if you type:

sniper before guns site:reddit.com//r/AskHistorians 

you get those threads. And if you vary it a little, and type something like

 sniper archery site:reddit.com/r/AskHistorians

or

 site:reddit.com/r/askhistorians sharpshooter bow and arrow

you can get still more.

There are some other Googling tips besides site: and filetype:. If you want words in proximity, like if you want someone talking about bow in the same sentence as sniper, you can type:

 site:reddit.com/r/askhistorians sniper AROUND(12) bow

That will only return results where sniper is within twelve words of bow (you can set the number to whatever you like). To be honest, I really rarely use that.

Let's say you want to look at snipers more generally, but the results keep talking about World War II. You can omit words for your search with the minus, like:

 site:reddit.com/r/askhistorians sniper -nazi -nazis -WW2 -"world war II" -"world war 2" -wwii

"" means we're treating the phrase as one word. And if you use it without the minus, it means "" must be included in the search results.

The (x|y) functions as an "or"

So like

 site:reddit.com/r/askhistorians sniper (bow|archery|archer|arrow)

The asterisk * gives you a wildcard, but I tend not to use that very much with Google. One I could use with Reddit but rarely do is intitle: because that would just search the titles (where the questions are) rather than the whole text. You can also do inurl: but I generally have specific enough searches that I don't use either of those very much. You used to be able to ranges of dates but I believe that's no longer possible.

This isn't really related, but I do use it in my random googling a lot. I might find a deadlink in, let's say, a Wikipedia article. If you want an old version of a webpage, you can just type Cache:[URL]. But that will only give you the most recent cached version and won't really help if the webpage is really gone, rather than just paywalled or experiencing a temporary outage. What you probably want to do is check both the Internet Archive/archive.org's Wayback Machine or archive.is/archive.today (they're the same). You need the link already, but if you have that broken link, you can generally find a back up between those two. Just to bring this full circle, Jill Lepore (a History Professor at Harvard) has a great profile of the Internet Archive in the New Yorker, just really thinking through about the internet as a precarious, losable trove for future historians: "The Cobweb: Can the Internet be Archived?"

/u/yodatsracist clearly put in a solid bit of work just typing that out for me, and was sure to include basic information I may or may not have known. I could tell that this is something he views as a very basic skill, yet he was incredibly graceful in explaining it without a single hint of condescension. All that effort and kindness just to answer a single question a stranger had asked tangentially, and to share a useful skill. I really found that to be a beautiful example of how the internet can serve as a tool for the expression of the better aspects of humanity.

The work the mods and the contributors do here is fantastic! I am endlessly impressed by the amount of effort put into this sub.

This sub was recommended when I was having trouble finding sources for a research paper. I decided to stick around, and it became my favorite sub within a month. How this wonderful pocket of the internet isn't more well known is beyond me.

Whenever anyone points to the impossibility of finding accurate information online or the impossibility of establishing a professional and respectful dialogue, I counter by pointing to this sub. It is quite possible to have both reliable information and civil discussion, but it requires a shared sense of community and reliable moderators. I am very grateful to have both within this sub. The general tenor of the sub discourages me from spit-balling off the cuff about areas of history in which I have little expertise, which I'm grateful for.

This sub is so much better than any of the other ask[...] subs. I follow r/askscience and the amount of misinformation, half-arsed answers and straight out bullshit in the replies there is mindboggling.

So thank you, kind mods of this sub, for doing such great work.

This is a Top 5 community on the internet, no joke. Thanks for all y'all do, I've learned so much.

Srsly. I'm an amateur historian but a professional anthropologist and r/askanthropology is nowhere near this thread. The closest we have is the bioanthnews feed on... sigh... Facebook

I'm a little late to the party, and I suspect my feelings can easily be figured out, but I love this sub to. BUT a huge part of what makes it great is the whole, wider community. You folks asking questions, upvoting neat stuff, and just hanging around and participating.

Time and time again I’ve recommended this subreddit countless times when I’m asked my favorite subreddit. Contributors and moderators, you guys are truly something special. Thank you for all that you do.

it's honestly hilarious when reddit says a top post on this sub has 50+ comments and you open it and it's completely empty except one mod reply to a deleted comment saying "hey your reply wasn't up to our standards". not that that's a bad thing, it's part of what keeps this a great subreddit. you'd think that people would have gotten the picture by now, it's been like this forever

If we're posting appreciation threads, let me chime in and say that I don't just appreciate this sub, it's probably made me a smarter person. Not just because I learn about history, but because my reaction when I see a post is initially to think I know something about it. Then I come in and first have to remind myself that I'm not an expert so I shouldn't chime in, and then I read the answers and see a level of depth and nuance that goes so far beyond my lay understanding.

That habit of stopping myself unless I'm sure I can contribute something useful has (very) occasionally followed me elsewhere. As has the assumption that things are almost always more nuanced and layered than whatever first impressions I might have. And of course I've learned lots about a variety of subjects.

My favorite park is being tagged by the mod team for questions that are on the edge of my actual scope of competence. Cause, even though I can't answer them, I now have them all tagged for when someone better comes along and answers them and I might have otherwise missed them.

This sub is the best reddit has to offer - a satiation to curiosity with occasional disappointment and unending quest to know more.

As a dungeon master I just love reading answers to questions about common life in medieval or renaissance eras so I can weave those into my campaigns.

As someone who never lost child-like curiosity I saved more posts from here than any other sub.

Though despite installing addon I'm still bummed when remindme bot sends me a message "you waited two weeks on this post" and I still see it either empty or full of [removed]. Though I find it acceptable if there is a reason for removal stated with this.

I like this sub and all, but I see way too many posts with no answers at all (deleted answers). Why do so many of them have deleted answers?

Here here! Love finding out about history from real historians with the expertise to give real answers and looks of care.

One of these days I will think of a question good enough but till then I'm just enjoying reading all of them.

I absolutely feel the same way. I’m a middle school history teacher and it has happened on several occasions that things I’ve learned here have worked their way into my lessons.

So thanks for making me a better teacher!

It's the best, and it's thanks to the hard working mods and the expert posters. Thank all of you so much for providing the best content on Reddit.

seriously. every time an appreciation thread comes up, I post my last comment since the last askhistorians appreciation thread.

Saw this post on my feed. I usually don't check out this sub that often, but I'll definitely see what this hype is about. Thanks friend!

yes, it's one of reddit's great things. a superb sub.

Undoubtedly this sub is the most robust, pure and genuine category of sub I have ever come across. A big thanks to the contributors. God bless you all.

Absolutely agree! This is probably the best sub I know. The moderators and all the people who provide answers deserve all the praise they get!

Thank you to everyone for all the hard work! Mods and everyone who answers. I have learned so much from here.

Same here, very much appreciate the sub (must admit I did pop into this thread just to see if all the comments were getting blasted for not following the rule :) )

I just want to have a comment in r/AskHistorians.

Me too! I love getting answers to just anything and everything!

I'm joining this appreciation. Thank you all

That sub reigns supreme.

The mods do a great job of keeping honest replies too! I definitely believe this is one of the best subreddits out there!

I've literally loved history since I was 5. And I've been learning ever since.

This community is the finest on any social media in terms of moderation and content. I recommend it to anyone interested in a deeper knowledge of history, often with multiple POV.

Bravo/Brava, mods!

Yes, love this sub too. Sometimes I feel sad when a great question goes unanswered but thems the breaks.

Agreed this sub is the best, thank you to all the mods and contributors that make it what is!

i was just thinking this the other day!

I agree.

Same! You all are my favorites.

truly the most blissful sub i have ever found

Shouldn't all top level posts that do not cite sources and live up to the subs standards about why this is a great sub with data be deleted.

Hides.... This is a good sub.

Hats off to the wonderful contributions and also the strict mods for keeping up the quality of this sub. Amen.

Every [removed] stands out like a blessing from the Mod Gods of something wrong, stupid/unfunny, whiny, or misinformed that I will forever not have to read.

Thanks everybody!

Agreed!

I agree.

I have learned so much from all of the selfless, hard work on this sub. I'm a teacher too, and I use r/AskHistorians for a research unit that shows the structure of an accurate, unbiased, cited response. We look through several posts and talk about why comments are banned. Then my students create "UWCSE" (ultimate worst comments ever), which are traded with other groups. Their task is to refashion the comments using the skills we have learned.

Thanks for all you do.

Definitely top 5 subs on reddit

I rarely read on this sub but I love that it exists and it is a shining example of what a subreddit can be with good moderation.

Thank you to everyone involved in this subreddit.

I just want to leave a post fairly confident it won't be removed

Yeah this reddit page is very precise , kinda the opposite of what others tend reddit pages to be filled with ! I love History.!

Oooh, something I can comment on for once, because I don't have the ability to provide answers that won't be removed! (no hard feelings at all)

I too enjoy it! I know a lot of people get crabby about all the removed comments, but the fact of thr matter is that people want factual and reliable answers, and some guy just regurgitating their Wikipedia search is not those kinds of answers, nor is someone just recalling purely from memory without providing any further sources to read.

I know the moderating choices get a lot of hate, and I can understand where some of the frustration comes from for some people, but it's all this diligence and upholding strict rules that has kept this place reliable when it comes to answers!

I've done moderation work in the past, and there is some I do now, and I know it can be very thankless work. I can only imagine how adhering to such strict rules can garner hate thrown in your direction just for doing your job, so here's to all you moderators keeping this place clean and reliable!

Thank you to all the mods!

This is my favorite sub.

Couldn't agree more. The scientific rigour required for posts on this sub puts other, increasingly political subs (like r/science to shame)

I'm happy to take this chance to say ME TOO

Sometimes I'm sad that a question I'm curious about goes unanswered. But I love the quality of answers and the moderation is spot on. Cheers!

Me three.

And to the mods for keeping the thread free of shenanigans and general BS. It must be a tough sub to mod. I read it a lot though and love it

Agreed, it's by far the most professional, and the place where I learn the most at due to the wonderful moderation and adherence to the rules as well as fantastic user generated essays and some of the most well thought out responses to tough questions.

I love this sub because it reminds me daily that I know absolutely nothing about pretty much everything. So thank you!

This may just be the best sub on all of reddit.

Agree completely. This subreddit really reminds me of wikipedia. These incredible ppl just put so much work into replying to our questions, I really appreciate these redditors.

The mods get some heat but they’re very good at managing this sub.

This is probably my favorite sub on Reddit. Much of my book collection has been chosen based off the book list and I’ve loved them all. History is a field often forgotten when compared to other subjects, and there are a lot of misconceptions about it. I’m glad this subreddit is so well curated, and I’d like to thank everyone who gives in depth answers to the questions on this sub.

I do too. Maybe this already exists - but I would like to see a backup site where the info gets mirrored too, that is advertised in the sidebar - that the community could migrate too if reddit ever gets shutdown.

Between politicians mad at social media, and the recent WSB drama, I'm not convinced something dramatic might not happen to the platform.

Yeah I want to take some time and the opportunity to thank every single one who asked and most improtantly answered questions in this sub. It is truly the pearl in the garbage bin that is Reddit (pardon my harshness but sometimes I wonder why I still use reddit than someone here reminds me why).

I still remember the feeling after making my little tiny contribution to this sub that wasn't deleted. Felt better than any academic achievement I had.

I think it's safe to say that this sub is the ONLY reliable source on the internet for any information regarding history

[Comment removed]

I joined this subreddit because of this post.

I wanted to add to this, I know y'all keep appreciation posts down so we can focus on history but I am so so grateful for this Mod team. I really wanna knock some sense into people at places like coaxedintoasnafu who complain about the moderation here being too strict but in the same breath criticize other subs for being uninformed echo chambers.

Real history is hard and I am so glad the mods hold us to such a high standard here!

Agreed.

People talk shit on it but if you don’t want a in depth answer only place just go to r/askhistory

This is the best, or at least most useful, subreddit by a country mile. It's kind of amazing it still exists as it does.

I recommend this sub to everyone interested in history. I love that it is avoiding all the `left vs right` stuff that is overtaking internet.

Strange, I always see an interesting question come up on my home feed but when I click there are no answers.

!source jk lol

I read this sub before going to bed every single night and it brings me incredible joy. It’s also helped me break the doom scrolling habit. This is a special place that has improved my life.

i’m surprised this hasn’t been removed. and i’m well aware someone’s gonna remove this comment;

Your comment has been removed as it is not book length with footnotes.

:D

Yeah when they answer the questions...

uh this is not true, every single time i see a question on here i come and it’s been up for hours and there’s never an answer and if there is your always rerouted to another sub or another link of something, i’ve never got a good answer out of anything on this sub.

It's a good sub. Sometimes it feels like a platform for well educated bad writers to soapbox with 3x as many words as necessary, but it's a good sub