Our /r/AskHistorians 2024 Year in Review
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1i50ca8/our_raskhistorians_2024_year_in_review/
created by Karyu_Skxawng on 19/01/2025 at 15:01 UTC*
125 upvotes, 7 top-level comments (showing 7)
Hello, AskHistorians community! 2025 is now underway, but per the idea of a community member, we thought it’d be fun to put together a review of what happened last year. Without further ado:
New Developments
We haven’t changed *too* radically recently, but some things are different than they used to be. Here are some things that have changed or developed in the last year.
New Moderators
We’ve added a few new moderators to the team in the last year:
- u/orangewombat, Eastern Europe and Elisabeth Bathory extraordinaire[1]
- u/Iguana_on_a_stick, the Roman Military master
- u/MikeDash, expert on… everything[2]
- and yours truly, u/Karyu_Skxawng, the resident conlang nerd[3] (you might remember me from an older username)
After 6+ months, we all totally know what we’re doing now, and are down to merely a dozen erroneous, trigger-happy bannings per week.
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/profiles/orangewombat
2: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/profiles/mikedash
3: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/profiles/Karyu_Skxawng
Moderation changes you may—or may not—have noticed.
There are a couple ways the modteam has changed tactics.
First, in June we started clamping down on the “link loophole”: some users FAQ-finding and providing a few sentences of extra commentary in their comment as an additional answer, but not to a degree that matches our standards for a regular answer. We decided to start enforcing that any commentary in a linkdrop must either be geared toward explaining why the linked threads are worth reading, or provide an independent analysis that demonstrates their own in-depth knowledge on the topic. Read more about it here: META: Notice of a shift in how we interpret and enforce the rules on linking older answers.
Secondly, in November we decided to abandon Twitter (allegedly now called “X”) for Bluesky. Despite some concerns, this wasn’t so much a political decision, as it was a simple matter of finding Twitter no longer effective for meeting our needs to connect with people outside Reddit. You can follow us on our profile here[4], and additionally check out this starter pack of AskHistorians contributors on Bluesky[5]. Read more here: META: AskHistorians is shifting to Bluesky as our primary platform for off-Reddit outreach[6].
4: https://bsky.app/profile/askhistorians.bsky.social
5: https://bsky.app/starter-pack-short/AXQNBFg
6: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gu5aqi/meta_askhistorians_is_shifting_to_bluesky_as_our/
Third, and you may not have noticed, we finely tuned our thinking around the role of ChatGPT or other LLMs on the site. Please do not hesitate to use the report button to bring answers that you feel are plagiarized - that is, written by AI - to our attention. Plagiarism remains against the spirit of AskHistorians and against our rules[7]. You might also be interested in some meta discussions about AI on the sub: check out here[8] and here[9]!
7: https://reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/rules#wiki_answers
8: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1d5ggze/meta_taken_together_many_recent_questions_seems/
9: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1byykdm/meta_what_do_ah_historians_think_about_reddit/
Fun Features
From AMAS to celebrations to announcements, there have been a variety of exciting threads this year!
Mod Meta Posts:
- February 2024: AskHistorians has 2 million subscribers! To celebrate, we will remove the first 2 million comments in this thread.[10]
- August 2024: AskHistorians now enters the moody teenager phase as we celebrate our Thirteenth Birthday! In celebration, please use this thread for frivolity and other such triflings![11]
- October 2024: Update: “Who is This Child?” An Indigenous History of the Missing & Murdered[12]
- November 2024: The F Word, and the U.S. election[13]—some discourse on fascism across history
April Fools: r/Dear_Historians
Every year on AskHistorians we let our hair down just a little when spring rolls around, and do something fun for April Fools. This year, we did “Dear Historians”, a historical riff on conventional advice columns. Some highlights include:
10: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1aznalm/askhistorians_has_2_million_subscribers_to/
11: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1f47syr/askhistorians_now_enters_the_moody_teenager_phase/
12: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gbxcdt/update_who_is_this_child_an_indigenous_history_of/
13: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gimjck/the_f_word_and_the_us_election/
- Dear Historians, I (M3774) arranged a business deal with my FORMER friend Ea-Nasir and was wronged. Did I handle the situation correctly?[14]
- Dear Historians, THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR LEGAL ADVICE but what should I (29M) do about my upcoming trial for incestum?[15]
- Dear Historians, my [M35] character you can only hear from others; but to maintain any character, in that station, I must be respected. How am I do deal with the grievous insult against my dog [M3] Lion and myself, a Captain of the British Navy?[16]
- DEAR HISTORIANS! I (60M) AM ABOUT TO BE SURROUNDED BY THE GREAT KING OF PERSIA (38M)! MY ALLIES ARE RETREATING! I COULD STILL SAVE MY MEN! WHAT IS HONOURABLE FOR A SPARTAN TO DO?[17]
- Dear Historians, future historians are refusing to recognize my girlfriend[18].
- Dear Historians, AITA for wanting to divorce my sister and marry my niece?[19]
Check out the whole collection here![20] Who knows what mischief we’ll get into this year?
14: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bt8roo/dear_historians_i_m3774_arranged_a_business_deal/
15: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bt5cig/dear_historians_this_is_not_a_request_for_legal/
16: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bt6sil/dear_historians_my_m35_character_you_can_only/
17: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bsyjxy/dear_historians_i_60m_am_about_to_be_surrounded/
18: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bt9rw3/dear_historians_future_historians_are_refusing_to/
19: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bt063d/dear_historians_aita_for_wanting_to_divorce_my/
20: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/aprilfools11
AMA Highlights
- Hello, Dr Flint Dibble here. #RealArchaeology. You may know me from my "debate" with Graham Hancock on Joe Rogan. I'm an archaeologist, historian, and scientist. My scholarly research focuses on environmental archaeology in ancient Greece and the public critique of Atlantis pseudoarchaeology.[21]
- AMA with Antisemitism, U.S.A.: A History Podcast[22]
- I am Peter Samsonov, author of Achtung Tiger! AMA about how the Allies captured, studied, and defeated the infamous Tiger tank[23]
- Hello! I'm Mary Ziegler, a historian of debates about abortion and reproduction in the United States and the author of seven books, including one out with Yale on fetal personhood in April. AMA.[24]
- I am Dr. Stephen Robertson, Ask Me Anything about my digital monograph Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935[25]
- Do you have questions for our archivists about preserving historical content or the items housed in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB)?[26]
You can see all our AMA threads here![27]
21: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gcir0r/hello_dr_flint_dibble_here_realarchaeology_you/
22: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1f39qrv/ama_with_antisemitism_usa_a_history_podcast/
23: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1ccrk8e/i_am_peter_samsonov_author_of_achtung_tiger_ama/
24: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gjfcq8/hello_im_mary_ziegler_a_historian_of_debates/
25: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1g5pfyw/i_am_dr_stephen_robertson_ask_me_anything_about/
26: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1g52lx3/do_you_have_questions_for_our_archivists_about/
27: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/search?q=flair%3A%22ama%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all
Podcast Highlights
The AskHistorians Podcast[28] is a project that highlights the users and answers that have helped make r/AskHistorians[29] one of the largest history discussion forums on the internet. You can subscribe to us via Apple Podcasts[30], Stitcher[31], or RSS[32], and now on YouTube[33] and Google Play[34].
28: https://askhistorians.libsyn.com/
29: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians
30: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-askhistorians-podcast/id812302476
31: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/tas-stacey/the-askhistorians-podcast
32: https://askhistorians.libsyn.com/rss
33: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJudPwztZyg2BQjhetw_bww
34: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Id4ivbc332ugvgcztweoec3tdu4
- AskHistorians Podcast Episode 227: A conversation with LostHistoryBooks is now live![35]
- AskHistorians Podcast Episode 229 - Public History and Youtube, with Max Miller of Tasting History[36]
- AskHistorians Podcast Episode 230: A conversation about American Women's Words and Documentary Editing with Kathryn Gehred[37]
You can see all our podcast posts here[38].
35: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1ctbp9z/askhistorians_podcast_episode_227_a_conversation/
36: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1e0q5t8/askhistorians_podcast_episode_229_public_history/
37: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1fq0zdc/askhistorians_podcast_episode_230_a_conversation/
38: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/podcast
Popular Threads
Questions and Answers
- Did president James Garfield of the US ever eat lasagna?[39]
- Was Hitler a virgin?[40]
- Was Yasuke a Samurai?[41]
- Why does the dollar sign ($) look the way it does? Why does it look like an s, when there is no s in the word dollar?[42]
- Why do historians so firmly caution against applying modern understanding of homosexuality or other gender identities to the past, but not other social constructs such as greed, masculinity, or prestige?[43]
- Was "claiming sanctuary" in a church real? And did it actually work?[44]
- In The Wizard of Oz (1939), what is the context behind the lollipop guild?[45]
- how did medieval single women live?[46]
- Did the Boston Tea Party affect the marine life in the Boston Harbor?[47]
- What's an example of "this was so commonplace that nobody wrote it down, and now it's lost to history" in your area of research?[48]
Meta Madness
- We frequently see posts with 20+ comments and upon clicking them, it’s a wasteland of deletion. Could we see an un-redacted post to get a better idea of “why?”[49]
- How long does it take you to write an answer that complies with the rules?[50]
- Requesting A Moratorium on low-effort Nazism/Hitler/US Civil War & slavery etc bait posting[51]
- Mods are humans and mistakes and that is okay ,what is not okay is the mods not holding themselves to the same standard.[52]
- It seems like the last few months have seen an uptick in low-effort answers sticking around for hours. Is this true, and is there anything we can do about it aside from reporting every one we see?[53]
Stats Section
This data was tracked in mid-January 2025, so it might not be *perfectly* representative of 2024. But, pretty close:
39: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1dymnhk/did_president_james_garfield_of_the_us_ever_eat/
40: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gibr4b/was_hitler_a_virgin/
41: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1css0ye/was_yasuke_a_samurai/
42: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gk434x/why_does_the_dollar_sign_look_the_way_it_does_why/
43: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1fqx345/why_do_historians_so_firmly_caution_against/
44: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1gqg2cl/was_claiming_sanctuary_in_a_church_real_and_did/
45: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1advbsg/in_the_wizard_of_oz_1939_what_is_the_context/
46: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bqm3p0/how_did_medieval_single_women_live/
47: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1c102k5/did_the_boston_tea_party_affect_the_marine_life/
48: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bk7e8g/whats_an_example_of_this_was_so_commonplace_that/
49: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1d3bniy/meta_we_frequently_see_posts_with_20_comments_and/
50: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1fdmnu2/meta_how_long_does_it_take_you_to_write_an_answer/
51: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1fpkwsx/meta_a_moratorium_on_loweffort_nazismhitlerus/
52: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1cyxpwe/meta_mods_are_humans_and_mistakes_and_that_is/
53: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1bnrfps/meta_it_seems_like_the_last_few_months_have_seen/
- 209 million views, with an average of 3.4 million unique visit per month.
- Net gain of 263,000 new subscribers.
- Approximately 495,000 moderator actions were taken: * u/AutoModerator was responsible for over half of these actions. * The top 5 moderators in terms of actions after AutoMod were u/Hergrim (26.4k), u/Jschooltiger (20k), u/EdHistory101 (19.5k), u/Gankom (17.7k), and u/Dhowlett1692 (13.7k).
- Around 9,700 comments were removed. On average, that is 53.68% of comments per month.
- 14 new flairs added to the panel!
- Approximately 32% of questions got answered each month.
More can be said in 2025
We’ve already had a few meta notices worth checking out in the last couple weeks:
- Our 20 Year Rule: You can now ask questions about 2005![54]
- Announcing a new section of our booklist, showcasing works written by AskHistorians contributors![55]
And perhaps most important and relevant: **make sure to vote for the best answer of 2024[56]!** Results coming soon!
54: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1hr05tu/our_20_year_rule_you_can_now_ask_questions_about/
55: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1i0eb7n/meta_announcing_a_new_section_of_our_booklist/
56: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1hzvqhc/let_your_voice_be_heard_vote_here_for_the_best_of/
And there’s always lots of fun stuff on the horizon! As always, feel free to follow us on Bluesky[57], or subscribe to our weekly Reddit newsletter[58] (or follow r/BestOfAskHistorians) to keep up with the latest goings on!
57: https://bsky.app/profile/askhistorians.bsky.social
58: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=subredditsummarybot&subject=askhistorians+weekly&message=x
What were YOUR favorite parts of 2024 on AskHistorians, and what are you looking forward to around here this year?
Comments
Comment by crrpit at 19/01/2025 at 15:08 UTC
36 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Brb putting 'posted the two most popular threads of the year on AskHistorians in 2024' on my CV.
(for future historians seeking to contextualise the roots of this achievement, I remain very proud of the concept for the 2m subs one and feel like the traction was completely earned, and remain as baffled as you as to why so many people were invested in our Twitter presence).
Comment by Gankom at 19/01/2025 at 15:31 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
As someone who grew up with Jibjab year in review, I did mentally read this entire thing in a sing song voice.
Will echo my amazement that opening a different social media blew up as much as it did, but no better example for how trendy some things can be.
Comment by Halofreak1171 at 19/01/2025 at 15:53 UTC
11 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I'm incredibly grateful to be one of the new flairs added on board! I'm super excited to contribute to the subs 2025 as well, so here's to another year of hoping that someone asks about rebellions and fascism in Australia.
Comment by TheHondoGod at 19/01/2025 at 19:53 UTC
9 upvotes, 2 direct replies
That fucking Yasuke thread man. It was like a never ending war for *months*. Hats off to /u/ParallelPain for an absolutely stunning war of attrition in those comments
Comment by Vir-victus at 19/01/2025 at 15:44 UTC
17 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Approximately 32% of questions got answered each month.
Considering one more or less frequent accusation leveled at our sub bemoans the supposed absence of ANY answers to questions, this is a somewhat surprising but all the more important statistic. Every third question answered (with what I presume is a detailed, rule-abiding response at that) - nothing to scoff at, is it?
For me personally, some of the if not THE most important threads this year were those inquiring about LLMs, GPT and AI writing (or giving) answers, and how much - if at all - they can be trusted to provide accurate, expert-level insights pertaining to history. I am a bit unnerved if writing-heavy jobs, such as in journalism, will or might soon be outsourced to AI altogether, so this is a topic of paramount importance to stay on top of.
Of course AI can - as far as I perceive - never be on par with actual human beings on matters of history (for reasons such as non-digilatized primary and secondary sources, or those hidden behind a paywall, limiting the information available to AI), but given the faith people put into Wikipedia, Youtube Essayists and popular history in general (regardless of their quality in terms of accuracy), I keep wondering if our calling of educating and in a sense 'fighting' against popular myths, falsehoods and misconceptions is indeed a Sisyphos task. It may be a grim outlook, but currently it feels as if AI tools will only further compound this condundrum, perhaps severely so. Then again, as I keep revisting some of the popular history Youtubers quite frequently (in part bc I never bothered to remove them from my Youtube feed), I have noticed that *Overly Sarcastic Productions* is putting a serious, commendable effort into being more transparent and having a wider range of sources, including more professional ones. Though I still keep seeing *Kings and Generals* perpetuate or display (or reinforce) popular misconceptions, they too have put more thought to at least appear more transparent for a few months at this point. Baby steps, but steps anyhow.
Comment by voyeur324 at 19/01/2025 at 22:26 UTC*
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Does the 32% of questions answered include FAQ responses or just original answers that survive the banhammer?
Comment by bug-hunter at 19/01/2025 at 19:34 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Approximately 32% of questions got answered each month.
32% before or after removal?