That sounds an awful lot like work + My historical expertise is far more narrow than broad. I can address any subject of the Roman Empire to at least some degree; I can talk with some specificity on premodern European economics and society; I like to think I have a good understanding of the industrial revolution and modern history.
But there are vast gaps in my knowledge - I couldn’t give you more than the names of the major Chinese dynasties, nor tell you more than a handful of trivia and comparisons gleaned from articles that mention China only in passing. My understanding of pre-Mughal India is near-nonexistent, most of my knowledge of the medieval Islamic world is only in relation to Europe, Africa is a continent I desperately want to learn more about but never seem to be able to find source/time/motivation coinciding, etc etc etc etc. Relying on me would greatly restrict the topics that could be seriously covered.
Besides, I was never more than an undergrad. I’m not quite a rando from the street, but also, don’t take me too seriously!
Yeah, I fully get not wanting to turn your hobby into work! You already do plenty.
About your narrow area of expertise, don’t beat yourself up over it. I doubt anybody was expecting you to know every bit of history, and your passion for what you do know is what makes your explanations interesting.
Don’t worry, nothing beating myself up about it! Even folk with doctorates have pretty narrow fields, even if their general knowledge is still broader than mine. It’s legitimately very flattering to have a reputation for historical knowledge on the Threadiverse, but my ego is less important than reminding people that what I say is still very fallible, especially outside of my primary field of interest!
To be clear, at least in my mind, it’s not that you’ve got a reputation for deep historical knowledge. It’s that you’ve got a passion for history, and the willingness to put in the time and effort to share it with the rest of us in a way that’s very accessible!
I appreciate the vote of confidence, but:
That sounds an awful lot like work + My historical expertise is far more narrow than broad. I can address any subject of the Roman Empire to at least some degree; I can talk with some specificity on premodern European economics and society; I like to think I have a good understanding of the industrial revolution and modern history.
But there are vast gaps in my knowledge - I couldn’t give you more than the names of the major Chinese dynasties, nor tell you more than a handful of trivia and comparisons gleaned from articles that mention China only in passing. My understanding of pre-Mughal India is near-nonexistent, most of my knowledge of the medieval Islamic world is only in relation to Europe, Africa is a continent I desperately want to learn more about but never seem to be able to find source/time/motivation coinciding, etc etc etc etc. Relying on me would greatly restrict the topics that could be seriously covered.
Besides, I was never more than an undergrad. I’m not quite a rando from the street, but also, don’t take me too seriously!
Yeah, I fully get not wanting to turn your hobby into work! You already do plenty.
About your narrow area of expertise, don’t beat yourself up over it. I doubt anybody was expecting you to know every bit of history, and your passion for what you do know is what makes your explanations interesting.
Don’t worry, nothing beating myself up about it! Even folk with doctorates have pretty narrow fields, even if their general knowledge is still broader than mine. It’s legitimately very flattering to have a reputation for historical knowledge on the Threadiverse, but my ego is less important than reminding people that what I say is still very fallible, especially outside of my primary field of interest!
To be clear, at least in my mind, it’s not that you’ve got a reputation for deep historical knowledge. It’s that you’ve got a passion for history, and the willingness to put in the time and effort to share it with the rest of us in a way that’s very accessible!