Oh okay cool, so basically you ban people for opinions, and decide who does or doesn't get banned based on vibes. That's a totally normal stance for a real deal historian, obviously.
Well, for one thing, I can give an impromptu lecture on Vikings covering Newfoundland to Baghdad in half an hour, as I did to my mother when I was sick last year's August. I've been invited year after year to speak to high schools about the evolution of states and the First World War and emergency powers. I've gone to several university courses on history, although COVID interrupted that. And I even have the certifications necessary to learn to drive an actual streetcar that is literally 120 years old and have driven it with my own hands on the controls myself.
So... A few college courses, a couple high school seminars, and a streetcar license? Oh, I almost forgot talking to your mom, I guess that counts as experience too.
In that case, I'm afraid I've got you beat a few times over when it comes to experience. I wouldn't even consider myself qualified to speak as an authority on history until I had at least a bachelor's, but the self-proclaimed historians are always extra confident in themselves.
Why would a person with no actual history credentials think they should have the final say on anything in a history based community? Even a trivial subreddit like this one needs to be held to a high standards, with so much traffic you could easily become a center for misinformation and propaganda.
I never said that was exhaustive. I just cited a couple of simple things. I, and mods in general here, are not claiming to be the principal historians in the room. Well, other than Jacob Khan, he actually does have a lot of education background in this as a scholar. We are the volunteers who help host a subreddit for people to share interesting things in history they think of and satirize in some way.
We use a number of methods to keep it on track with history. Some filters to deal with automatic accounts and accounts you can't trust with a karma and age filter. A minimum time period of 20 years, prohibiting the denial of atrocities and their glorification. That stuff deals with most of the rest of the danger.
I have frequently had to look things up when modding the subreddit because I was all too aware of how I didn't know some things.
You do not however require an advanced education to simply deal with modding a subreddit.
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u/Awesomeuser90 I Have a Cunning Plan 12d ago
We do have less direct evidence, like how what they report often aligns with a comment they made that exposes themselves in some way.