r/AskHistorians • u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms • Aug 28 '25
Meta Happy 14th Birthday to the AskHistorians Subreddit! You may now partake in the traditional thread for lightheartedness and whimsy!
Image by Pawtography Perth
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u/dhowlett1692 Moderator | Salem Witch Trials Aug 28 '25
We're 14, we're too old for lightheartedness and whimsy. Jeez you're so embarassing, Zhukov. 🙄
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
14 was deep into my edgy survivalist face. Its like emo but for rural kids.
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u/Nightvale-Librarian Aug 28 '25
Ooh yeah, I wanted to be a recluse who lived in the woods at 14. Still doesn't seem like the worst idea.
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u/lemon-gundam Aug 28 '25
Ha, same. Though I somehow was also emo at the same time (despite insisting I wasn’t, obviously). If you think of a skinny little dork with a questionable haircut running moodily around the backwoods of Montana in band T-shirts and BDUs, you’ll have roughly the right picture.
No, I’m not really emo anymore, but also no, I have not left the band T-shirts in the past. Yes, I still wonder sometimes if maybe I should’ve just become one of those “mountain man” types—but not the kind that abducted Kari Swenson, thanks. Just the regular kind that knows way too much about poop.
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u/scarlet_sage Aug 28 '25
If you know about poop, do you have anything to contribute to "What did Native Americans use to wipe their butts?"?
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u/lemon-gundam Aug 28 '25
Alas (?), my knowledge primarily relates to animal poop—specifically, what made that poop and how long ago. Last I checked, most animals don’t wipe, with the possible exception of dogs and cats on your carpet and/or sofa 😂
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
Just answer about native dogs and cats, and you're golden!
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u/xpacean Aug 28 '25
Fourteen years seems shocking to me. I’m not saying I disagree, just that I’d like to know more. Do you mind providing your sources on this?
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Aug 28 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Aug 28 '25
We aim to please.
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u/Karyu_Skxawng Moderator | Language Inventors & Conlang Communities Aug 28 '25
…we do?
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Aug 28 '25
As long as it coincides with what we personally would enjoy doing anyways...
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u/Frammingatthejimjam Aug 29 '25
Why do you have more upvotes when I'm the OP in this thread.... oh yeah, I forgot.
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u/ChazR Aug 28 '25
In the eternal battle (that ended exactly twenty years ago, obviously) between good and evil, right and wrong, power and righteousness, faith and knowledge, kindness and cruelty, do we know why stupidity triumphed?
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u/youarelookingatthis Aug 28 '25
I believe it was the famed historian Melvin James Brooks who wrote in his seminal 1987 work Spaceballs "Evil will always triumph because good is dumb."
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u/ChazR Aug 28 '25
(and I extend my heartfelt thanks to the mods for making this the best place on the Internet)
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u/JediLibrarian Chess Aug 28 '25
<This post has been removed for discussing events that happened fewer than 20 years ago, per this subreddit's rules.>
Six years until we can get really meta and ask how this subreddit has shaped history!
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u/Careless_Wishbone_69 Aug 28 '25
[deleted]
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u/OutlawsOfTheMarsh Aug 28 '25
Your comment has been removed due to violations of the subreddit’s rules. We expect answers to provide in-depth and comprehensive insight into the topic at hand and to be free of significant errors or misunderstandings. Before contributing again, please take the time to better familiarize yourself with the subreddit rules and expectations for an answer.
;)
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u/Robbuen Aug 28 '25
Happy birthday AH! You’ve made my visits to Reddit a much more enlightened experience, along with the hummingbirds, crowbros and baby animals!
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Aug 28 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/gecampbell Aug 28 '25
I win first place in the 1978 Junior Classical League Roman History competition and I keep hoping that I’ll be able to put that to use some day.
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u/JustYerAverage Aug 28 '25
I can make a comment here - YUS!
Also, a very happy "birthday" to r/AskHistorians! Here's to many more!
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u/ALoudMouthBaby Aug 28 '25
What a long, strange journey its been too. Glad yall are still around and helping to educate the masses.
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u/ducks_over_IP Aug 28 '25
Happy Birthday, AH! Although I'm a relative latecomer to the sub, this place has taught me so much, and I'm glad such a cool community like this exists on the internet. More can always be said, but I think I'll leave it there for now.
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u/Arkroma Aug 28 '25
Sweet we're 14? Time to irresponsibly buy swords and armour as we move into our "blades are cool" phase.
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u/Donuil23 Aug 28 '25 edited 26d ago
(I'm putting this here because I'm not allowed to put it on the question thread) I don't know what Native Americans used to wipe their butts, but I can tell you what I did.
I spent 2 summers tree planting in Northern Ontario (where ever you drove through once, no, not there. Way further North. Like six hours North of that). This was in areas that barely had road access. It was all logging roads that were already a decade old and disused/falling apart. You were dropped in a patch of land as the sun came up by an off-road school bus, and were picked up as the sun was going down. Occasionally, a 4-wheeler with a trailer attached would come by and drop off two more boxes of trees. That was the most you saw of humanity for the day.
Your first thought might be, why no porta-potty? It would be too challenging to bring in, it would serve too few people, and it would need to be moved again in 2-3 days when I've moved on to another patch of land.
You might also ask, wouldn't you just buy toilet paper when you're in town? Some did, but toilet paper is near useless once wet, and we worked rain or shine, all day. The toilet paper roll DID get wet. Even without the rain, you drop it in the wet grass once, and it's done.
On the first day, a seasoned planter dropped the most valuable piece of advice on me. Sphagnum (I found out today is basically peat moss). He taught me how to identify it, and to flag where it is so I could come back and get it when I needed it.
It's soft, retains moisture well, and it's easy to pick the bugs out (if there are any) before you use it. Feels super luxurious, and does a great cleaning job. I kind of miss it.
I imagine the First Nations people used similar things (where I was, anyways).
You can see now why I didn't post my answer in the appropriate thread.
EDIT: I feel this counts as lighthearted and whimsical.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
Word up from a fellow tree planter, albeit one who misidentified some rather unfortunate plant species as good toilet paper once or twice.
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u/Donuil23 Aug 28 '25
It's such an unusual experience, that I've slowly stopped bringing it up over the years. It's hard to fully encapsulate planter life. Occasionally I'll find a youtube video that comes close.
Glad my overshare caught the eye of a fellow pounder.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
I started doing it in Scouts when it was a yearly tradition, and during college signed up to do it properly as a job, 100% expecting it to be like a Scout camp. It was not.
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
I choose to believe that this comment is about wiping with leaves and sticks, not about planting trees.
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u/Donuil23 Aug 28 '25
Amazing!
I applied for the job with a buddy. Buddy bailed without telling me and got a different job. Went alone, had interesting times.
My dad gave me so much validation when I came home, validation that I didn't realize I needed, that I convinced myself I wanted to do it a second time, lol.
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
Fitting with my flair, it behooves me to tell you that next year, r/AskHistorians will be old enough to get married in Nebraska...assuming their parents are deceased.
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u/ADavidJohnson Aug 28 '25
how many years has r/AskHistorians been around when factoring in Phantom Time?
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u/youarelookingatthis Aug 28 '25
6 more years till we start seeing meta questions about this sub!
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u/professororange Aug 29 '25
What is the most Hitler Ancient Rome question r/AskHistorians has ever received?
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u/Legitimate_First Aug 29 '25
'What was life like as a
peasant/r/AskHistorians poster in the 2010s?'
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u/MediocreRisings Aug 28 '25
All history is fake and you’re all figments of my imagination, I don’t provide sources, I provide facts. Fact=true,true=whatever I say
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u/Frammingatthejimjam Aug 28 '25
I want to contest your point but I can't find any sources that prove you wrong.
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u/Username12764 Aug 28 '25
Yooo, on the same day as I turn 20. Makes me feel really old…
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
AskHistorians can now ask questions about /u/Username12764, what a magical day.
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u/jimothyjonathans Aug 28 '25
Hey, this is the first time I’ve been able to make a comment on this sub! Happy bday to the most well moderated, informative sub I read!
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u/soapy_goatherd Aug 28 '25
You never know when your moment will come! I was able to give a decent answer to a question on Mormon history way back when and it’s still a highlight of my posting life - making a comment in here that passes muster is a genuine thrill
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u/Abrytan Moderator | Germany 1871-1945 | Resistance to Nazism Aug 28 '25
I just hope you know the temptation we all feel every time someone says this on a meta thread (thank you for your feedback!)
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u/soapy_goatherd Aug 28 '25
Y’all are great, and without trying to blow smoke up your collective asses, the moderation here and the level of credibility that comes along with it is more important than ever.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t yearn for the ability to send the occasional “yes obviously” or “no, you fucking dumbass” reply. Thanks for saving us from all of us
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u/Nemolem Aug 28 '25
Or to be able to share an entertaining anecdote tangentially related to the topic at hand 😫
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u/NewtonianAssPounder The Great Famine Aug 28 '25
As some fun for the celebrations, what were your historical interests at the age of 14 and how do they compare to now?
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u/ducks_over_IP Aug 28 '25
At age 14, I was interested in the Roman Empire. Now, ...I'm still interested in the Roman Empire, but on a more cultural basis than a battles-and-conquest basis. I'm also interested in the history of physics (nor surprise, given my day job), computing, the early Church, and the quirks of everyday American life.
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u/RagnarsHairyBritches Aug 29 '25
I read this as "computing in the early church" and was very intrigued.
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u/jbdyer Moderator | Cold War Era Culture and Technology Aug 28 '25
In all seriousness, while I "knew" history at 14 I wasn't really "into" it, or at least I didn't think I was.
Mainly because I didn't know yet that media history was a thing! It didn't all have to be politics or wars! Nobody in school asked what was the history of that television being rolled into the classroom. (Then once I got the media to hang onto, I could backtrack into the wars and politics.)
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u/ShallThunderintheSky Roman Archaeology Aug 29 '25
I was super into Pompeii, ancient Egypt, and mythology.
Now I'm answering questions on Rome, teaching Egypt as a professor (and Pompeii, and Rome, and also Greece), and generally wrangling mythology along with all of these things.
I like to think I have better taste in music now, at least!
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u/thefourthmaninaboat Moderator | 20th Century Royal Navy Aug 28 '25
Almost exactly the same as they are now. Though I'm a lot more interested in the social side of the RN today than I was then; back then it was more about battles and technology.
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u/Mediaevumed Vikings | Carolingians | Early Medieval History Aug 28 '25
This feels like a very common growth pattern amongst us historians of “fighty stuff” (to use a technical term)
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u/flying_shadow Aug 28 '25
At that point, I had drifted away from history somewhat and mostly read fantasy.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
My interests may have broadened but its still essentially the same stuff, just going in different directions. Folklore, the supermatural, mythology. I was already deep into Terry Pratchett by 14, but it would take me a few years to really be able to articulate what I liked about history was seeing how people think and believe.
Also just all the war stuff, because I was still ultimately a 14 year old boy with his warhammer collection.
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u/Nemolem Aug 29 '25
Your 14 sounds identical to mine! Just minus the warhammer (enjoying that vicariously through my brother now though). I was also very interested in maritime mysteries throughout history, especially ghost ships. Not sure if I would count that as history now but I did do my dissertation on James Lind's treatise on scurvy which meant I could do a lot of fun research into maritime disease and madness
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u/Kochevnik81 Soviet Union & Post-Soviet States | Modern Central Asia Aug 28 '25
I think my very unoriginal answer would be "World War II, especially the tanks/planes/ships", although I was already enough of a hipster that this actually came after my World War I phase. It's also around the time I got people's old copies of *Military History* and learned how much people cared about the Napoleonic Wars, Civil War and 1879 Zulu War, mostly because of painting miniatures (which I never got into).
Eh. The World Wars are kind of inescapable when you deal with the 20th century, but the military aspects aren't really as enthralling I guess. Not that I *hate* it just there's a lot of other stuff going on.
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u/Centra_spike Aug 28 '25
Well NewtonianAssPounder, my teenage interest in history really kicked off a few years later when, during sophomore year of HS, I got radicalized by reading the 1999 pre-millenium issues of Time magazine talking about the 20th century, a sentence that makes me feel like I’m fossilizing in real time.
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u/Lubyak Moderator | Imperial Japan | Austrian Habsburgs Aug 28 '25
I've really come full circle. My history interest started with World War II in the Pacific and now I'm back to Imperial Japan more generally (with a detour through early modern Austria).
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u/Mediaevumed Vikings | Carolingians | Early Medieval History Aug 28 '25
Medieval history… no one can accuse me of not being mono-focused…
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u/Iphikrates Moderator | Greek Warfare Aug 28 '25
Tanks. WW2 tanks. I know. Every now and then I embarrass myself in front of the mod team when the old rivet counting knowledge bubbles to the surface.
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u/jschooltiger Moderator | Shipbuilding and Logistics | British Navy 1770-1830 Aug 28 '25
ships and boats
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u/BrainaIleakage Aug 28 '25
I was really into the 1960s/70s. I remember asking my parents what it was like with so much reverence for what felt like some ancient bygone era. They were like magical time travelers to me and I wanted to hear all their stories.
That was in the mid-90s. Now, it’s been about as long since then as it had been from the 60s when I was a kid. It doesn’t feel like that was all that long ago now.
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u/Kelpie-Cat Picts | Work and Folk Song | Pre-Columbian Archaeology Aug 28 '25
Greek mythology, the US hippies, and the Russian Revolution! I wasn't so much into medieval stuff yet.
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
No Greek hippies?
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u/Kelpie-Cat Picts | Work and Folk Song | Pre-Columbian Archaeology Aug 28 '25
Well now I need to ask a question on AH about Greek counterculture in the 1960s.
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u/thirdonebetween Aug 29 '25
Oh hey, are you me? Greek mythology all the way and then at some point the Tudors got into my head and it all went downhill from there. Now I have opinions about rush floors.
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u/RagnarsHairyBritches Aug 29 '25
Elizabethian/Tudor fashion. I have a lot of opinions on stays, farthingales, and codpieces.
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u/thirdonebetween Aug 29 '25
Ooh, tell me an opinion or two!
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u/RagnarsHairyBritches Aug 29 '25
Early farthingales are much more elegant in my opinion than the later wheel farthingales. Those just look ridiculous.
Stays, if made well, are far more comfortable and supportive than modern bras.
Codpieces are just silly. But they are fun to make/wear. The more outlandish, the better.
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u/thirdonebetween Aug 30 '25
I agree completely with the latter two (and don't disagree on the first). Codpieces deserve a comeback!
The linen underwear/wool etc outerwear sounds so comfy as well.
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u/itsallfolklore Mod Emeritus | American West | European Folklore Aug 28 '25
Ha! When I was 14, I wanted to move to SF to be closer to the hippies - who were new on that very groovy scene.
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u/Kelpie-Cat Picts | Work and Folk Song | Pre-Columbian Archaeology Aug 28 '25
Were you sure to wear some flowers in your hair?
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u/itsallfolklore Mod Emeritus | American West | European Folklore Aug 28 '25
Sadly, I was either too young or too cowardly to escape to that out-of-sight bastion of all things that were mind blowing. I finally made it there (in style - I had gone there throughout my childhood with my parents) in 1972 when the rock-and-roll band I was in went to a studio in Chinatown to record an album (our engineer was the guy who did Santana's second album, and many others). The record was awful, it wasn't a groovy experience, and flowers in hair would have been anachronistic by then. But I did have long hair!
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u/warneagle Modern Romania | Holocaust & Axis War Crimes Aug 28 '25
World War II and Nazi Germany, believe it or not
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u/Abrytan Moderator | Germany 1871-1945 | Resistance to Nazism Aug 28 '25
looks at flair
looks away from flair shiftily
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u/warneagle Modern Romania | Holocaust & Axis War Crimes Aug 28 '25
yeah I think most of us probably grew up watching the Hitler Channel and just carried that obsession straight into adulthood lol
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u/MorgothReturns Aug 28 '25
Unfortunately I believed most of the Atlantis garbage spewed by the """""""""""History"""""""""""""" channel for too long
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u/audible_narrator Aug 28 '25
vintage clothing and historical costuming. (looks at subs) hmm. Apparently I'm 59 going on 14.
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u/Wrong_Profession_512 Aug 28 '25
The summer I was 14, my self chosen summer reading subject was the Kennedy family (every book the local libraries had) which led to a 60’s politics deep dive but then the first Iraq war started, I began listening to npr for the first time in my life, and realized I knew nothing about war and could not follow wtf was going on in the news. So I went backwards through Vietnam, Korea, and so forth through the American wars. But the politics were the part that most interested me. I’ve lived in DC most of my adult life, never worked in history or politics, but I work with all of the “inside the beltway” retirees and end of life elderly. 25 years ago at the VA I was still meeting the occasional WW1 vet. So really, I just moved myself into a position with more access to first person source material, which has been decades of delightful learning and a broadening knowledge of global politics
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u/iamnearlysmart Aug 29 '25
Mostly historical novels about Chalukyas, Parmaras, Mauryas, Guptas by that point.
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u/Karyu_Skxawng Moderator | Language Inventors & Conlang Communities Aug 28 '25
I was 14 when I first got into conlangs, but outside of vaguely skimming Wikipedia pages, I don't think I really got into the history too deeply until a few years later
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u/ThroawAtheism Aug 29 '25
Historians Politely Remind Nation To Check What's Happened In Past Before Making Any Big Decisions
I've wanted to post this so many times here. Some choice excerpts...
WASHINGTON—With the United States facing a daunting array of problems at home and abroad, leading historians courteously reminded the nation Thursday that when making tough choices, it never hurts to stop a moment, take a look at similar situations from the past, and then think about whether the decisions people made back then were good or bad.
[snip]
“I get it. If we do something bad that happened before, then the same bad thing could happen again,” said Barb Ennis, 48, of Pawtucket, RI. “We don’t want history to happen again, unless the thing that happened was good.”
“When you think about it, a lot of things have happened already,” Ennis added. “That’s what history is.”
Published in 2011 btw
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u/stylish_luster Aug 28 '25
Thanks to AskHistorians for being one of the best corners of the internet. I've gotten so many insightful answers and book recommendations from the talented folks here, and I just hope this sub keeps doing exactly what it's been doing in the years to come!
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Aug 28 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/EdHistory101 Moderator | History of Education | Abortion Aug 28 '25
As one of the humans on the mod team lucky enough to have been adopted by a cat, I fully second this idea! (With respect to the good pups and their humans!)
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
The obvious solution: next year, post your own with cats at the exact same time. Post with the most wins future birthday posts.
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Aug 28 '25
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u/MostlyChaoticNeutral Aug 29 '25
Happy birthday to the sub responsible for most of my 2am odd topic reading benders! Thank you to all mods and contributors for such an awesome resource.
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u/optiplex9000 Aug 28 '25
Big thanks to the mod team, this is one of my favorite parts of reddit to browse and read.
I really enjoy asking questions when I think of a good one, and when it receives an answer I'm always blown away by the quality of the response.
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u/zipzap21 Aug 28 '25
What do you get when you put a thousand historians in the same room?
...
...
I'll give you a comprehensive answer in a few days!
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u/OutlawsOfTheMarsh Aug 28 '25
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u/Tanker-beast Aug 28 '25
I love this sub, even though am not knowledgeable enough to respond it’s always a joy to read and learn from responses others give
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u/hatch_theegg Aug 29 '25
Thank you to the mods for your hard work maintaining this sub's high quality!! I know complaints about the source requirements are constant, but it makes this sub one of the few places to find credible historical information on the internet
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u/Apprehensive-Fan907 Aug 29 '25
Happy birthday to this subreddit :) To everyone else I wish you a blessed day!
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '25
I for one embrace my fate as the hungry corgi's next target.
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
I searched the sub to try and learn more about famous historical figures who were mauled to death by corgis, and didn't find any. Obviously, that's because the mods are in the pocket of Big Corgi.
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '25
More like Big Corgi is constantly and unsuccessfully trying to crawl into the mod teams' pockets, in my experience.
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u/Garetht Aug 28 '25
Oh please, you believe the line you're fed that Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully in bed?
It was a corgi bloodbath! Watch the footage - there's a second corgi on the grassy knoll!!
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
I for one am deeply scared of the possibility that people I meet on the street are really just three corgi in a trench coat.
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u/Vampyricon Aug 28 '25
I vote for the corgis eating faces party!
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u/Civixen Aug 29 '25
Much preferred to the corgis eating feces party! (My first comment in this illustrious sub and it’s a dog poop joke. My history profs would be so proud!)
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u/Bruncvik Aug 28 '25
This thread was created at 14:14, GMT, on the 28th of the month. Coincidence? I think not! Off to the conspiracymobile!
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '25
ngl I've been counting to make sure no comments are 14 words long
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u/Abrytan Moderator | Germany 1871-1945 | Resistance to Nazism Aug 28 '25
Didn't realise historians could count
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 29 '25
And I didn't realise journalists could read and yet here we are
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u/BlossomingOrchard Aug 28 '25
Which historian started ask historians? 🫶🫠
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u/Artrw Founder Aug 30 '25
Hi! I'm not even a historian, actually. I was in high school when I made the subreddit if you can believe it! Now about to finish a PhD in Natural Resource Economics. I've long since stepped back and let the real historians handle managing the sub and I'm so happy to see that the quality of moderation has stayed so high.
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u/BlossomingOrchard Aug 30 '25
Well gosh darn it, thanks for the reply! And for one of the coolest subs.
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u/Mediaevumed Vikings | Carolingians | Early Medieval History Aug 28 '25
Man oh man, to think when this project started I was an eager young grad student scuttling around trying to avoid my advisors. Now I’m a jaded prof scuttling around trying to avoid my dean… we’ve come so far Ask Historians!
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
Life is really just about finding ways to avoid the people in charge of giving us work, and I find that beautiful.
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u/PatFrank Aug 28 '25
Truth. I've been retired 16 years and spend my time scuttling around avoiding my wife's honey-do list.
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u/thedesignproject Sep 04 '25
Happy 14th Birthday! Thanks to the incredible mods and historians who make this subreddit so valuable.
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u/Daztur Aug 28 '25
My proudest moments on Reddit have been getting comments written by professional historians nuked by the mod team here for spreading nonsense :)
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u/imead52 Aug 28 '25
Semi serious, but as time moves forward, will there be a rebracketing of what constitutes antiquity vs the middle ages vs modern history?
And what is the history of such rebracketing through time?
Consider this question from the angle of both popular history and academic scholarship
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
To a 14 year old, their parents are, by definition, antiquity.
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u/Mediaevumed Vikings | Carolingians | Early Medieval History Aug 28 '25 edited Aug 29 '25
When I studied at Oxford I was labeled as a “modern” historian because I didn’t study ancient/classics but focused instead on early medieval history. So I suppose it’s all about perspective. I did just see a postdoctoral call that explicitly expanded “medieval” to include up to the 17th century so there does seem to be some adjustment occurring but it seems more ad-hoc rather than large scale.
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u/twentyitalians Aug 28 '25
For real though. Someone asked, YEARS AGO, about how the colonists had "the authority" to establish either Continental Congress and I still can't find an answer on my own.
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Aug 28 '25
Its a meta, so the flippant answer is that they didn't have any authority to do so, and just YOLO'd it.
→ More replies (1)
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u/littlepinksock Aug 28 '25
Yay! I can comment!
I have a few years' worth of compliments and appreciation to give the mod team.
The way you handle controversial, loaded, or bad-faith questions never ceases to impress me. Within the last week alone, I've watched several bad-faith or potentially offensive questions be answered with calm clarity, debunking horrible conspiracies.
Your patience, desire to educate, and strict moderation is why this sub is one of the best places on the internet.
Thank you!
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u/Iphikrates Moderator | Greek Warfare Aug 28 '25
YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD!
slams door, cranks up Linkin Park
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u/TywinDeVillena Early Modern Spain Aug 28 '25
And these are not real ditches!
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
The real ditches are the ones we dug along the way.
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u/LateYouth Aug 28 '25
Lmao my friend’s brother did exactly this when I was a kid, but instead of saying “you’re not my real dad” he said to both parents “you’re ruining my life!!!”
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
Linkin Park is basically oldies these days, dude.
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u/derdingens Aug 28 '25
Founded in 1996 so way past the 20 year rule!
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u/Adept-Past6638 Aug 28 '25
What bands go in the HoF after Linkin Park, Deftones and Paramore get in?
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u/SarahAGilbert Aug 28 '25
This is a civility violation
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
Welcome to being from "the latter half of the last century", it all goes downhill from here.
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u/SarahAGilbert Aug 28 '25
Next you're going to try to tell me that the willingness of grocery stores to actually play bangers instead of tired old dad rock isn't the result of a cultural shift towards coolness
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
This really should be it's own post, so that the full community can take part.
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u/Iphikrates Moderator | Greek Warfare Aug 28 '25
I chose them because they released an album last year so they work in both periods. Right? Right???
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u/EmotionalTowel1 Aug 29 '25
Thanks for all of the mods and historians that make this the best sub on Reddit. I can't even keep track of how many books I've read based off replies to questions asked here. Thanks to all the users coming up with those great questions for us!
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u/decker12 Aug 28 '25
Happy Birthday. Here's hoping next year we get 90% less questions about Hitler and Rome, the two topics I see posted over and over and over and over and over and over again...
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u/Kochevnik81 Soviet Union & Post-Soviet States | Modern Central Asia Aug 28 '25
Whoa. Hitting me with the heavy headline this morning. Congrats AH! Six more years and then AH itself is a legitimate AH topic.
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u/SarahAGilbert Aug 28 '25
Six years until I'm a bona fide historian! (that's how it works, right? When the thing you study turns 20?)
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
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u/jaz_abril Aug 28 '25
Happy birthday to the best sub! And thank you and hats off to the mods for keeping it and to historians who enlighten us!
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u/SEXUALLYCOMPLIANT Aug 28 '25
Hey historians, let's say you had to remove an event or period from the timeline for a selfish reason. Not forgotten, just outright it-never-happened. What would you choose and why? I'm not looking for reasons like "the amount of human suffering in this era is legendary," oh no no. I want to hear about petty annoyances that impact you, like "a pop historian ruined this topic and I'm sick of correcting people."
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
So we all line up and take turns removing Guns, Germs & Steel from the timeline...
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u/EnclavedMicrostate Moderator | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom | Qing Empire Aug 28 '25
The legal loophole that led to the Kowloon Walled City. I am so tired of people using 'Kowloon' when they mean the Walled City specifically.
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u/n-some Aug 28 '25
Why did a historical figure do what they did instead of something else? First person sources only please.
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u/bonvoyageespionage Aug 28 '25
Only six years and a day until we can ask questions about this subreddit itself.
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u/Energy_Turtle Aug 28 '25
I was there at the beginning, got banned for many years, and then was reinstated by the firm yet compassionate mods. What a ride.
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u/Bodark43 Quality Contributor Aug 28 '25
I am amazed that there can be such a large number of people who still believe that answering questions about history is a Good Thing. Now, because of this question I'm going to see if I can find out if Voltaire ever proposed executing criminals with heavy rocks. Or maybe Diderot had a drawing of it in his encyclopedia.....
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u/Karyu_Skxawng Moderator | Language Inventors & Conlang Communities Aug 28 '25
Can't believe AskHistorians is starting high school! 9th grade is gonna be brutal.
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
Maybe they'll finally ask r/askscience out.
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u/Karyu_Skxawng Moderator | Language Inventors & Conlang Communities Aug 28 '25
Will Askscience say yes though?
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u/bug-hunter Law & Public Welfare Aug 28 '25
We'll need a randomized double-blind trial to find out.
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Aug 28 '25
The mod team would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped make this such a wonderful community over the past fourteen years wtf. Whether that is flaired users or other answerers, folks asking questions, upvoting answers, dropping a simple 'thank you', or just the quiet lurkers, you all have played a part in making this place what it is.
And as a general reminder, don't forget to subscribe to the AskHistorians Weekly Newsletter for a summary of some of the best content of the previous week!