The sub has been flourishing for more than a decade. Ever since it was founded all the way back in September 2012, it has grown by leaps and bounds. At the time of writing, the group was home to over 7.5 million members (or ‘History Experts’ as the community dubs them).

Members of r/HistoryMemes are encouraged to share memes about historical events, famous historical figures, and trends that were established at least twenty years ago. Moreover, the memes can be related to history class or “the application of the subject of History in real life.” The memes can also be tied to mythology or religious texts, or be ‘meta’ memes about the subreddit itself.

The team running the entire community has outlined its extended rules in great detail. It’s probably best to give those a read (right over here) if you’re new to the community and want to start things off on the right foot.

For instance, some memes and formats are actually banned on r/HistoryMemes. This is done for the sake of maintaining a high level of quality. Some topics that are prohibited include British Museum memes, as well as images related to France supposedly surrendering all the time. These topics have been milked to death.

Some other banned meme topics include US oil, nuclear bombs in Japan, Nazi scientists in NASA, and Hitler’s links to art school. Meanwhile, among some of the prohibited formats are Political Compass memes and fake caption-style posts where someone posts with a title that includes the name of an event, its date, and the word ‘colorized’ for comedic effect.

Other banned formats include ‘Those who don’t know/Those who know’ memes, as well as Boys vs Girls memes. The mods also ask the community not to start meme wars or incite drama on the subreddit. Moreover, the images and titles that people post can’t be low-quality. In short, internet users ought to put in some effort in what they share.

And (though it’s common sense) redditors are urged not to deny or defend genocides and atrocities. Anyone going against this rule will instantly be banned, permanently. “Hateful historical revisionists are not welcome,” the mods explain. You’ll also get banned if you compare atrocities to one another. 

Again, this is all common sense stuff on what not to do, but if the rule’s there, it means that there are folks who consistently do the opposite.

According to one thesis written by a senior student at Yale University, humor really does help us remember facts better. If factual information is paired with an especially funny joke (compared to a non-humorous one), individuals recall the fact better. However, what also helps is if the joke is relevant and somehow tied to the fact itself.

Meanwhile, Edutopia notes that humor activates the dopamine reward system in our brains which helps with “goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory.” Humor, when used correctly, can help students retain information better, whether they’re still in kindergarten or already in college.

Generally speaking, the average person won’t have the time and energy to check whether every tiny little piece of information that they come across on the internet is factually correct. So it’s best to be a bit skeptical of everything and to consider the source where the info came from.

“When looking at ‘mindblowing’ facts on the internet a healthy sense of skepticism is essential—as is looking at the source. Is this being claimed by Twitter user @fakefacts420 or a Professor of History at the University of Oxford? Are you reading this on a university website or an email your nan has forwarded you?" one moderator from another but related subreddit, r/AskHistorians, told Bored Panda earlier.

In other words, try to get your information from reliable sources and individuals. Now, this doesn’t mean that they won’t any mistakes ever (everyone’s human after all), but it would be naive to think that all sources are ‘equal.’ What you can do, if you’re particularly bamboozled by a fact or meme, is cross-reference the information from a few reliable sources. You can also check out some sites (e.g. Snopes) that debunk myths and fake news. 

According to the mod from r/AskHistorians, some time periods have an unusually large number of conspiracy theories associated with them. "There are probably dozens of potential conspiracies surrounding Sumerian agriculture, but that topic isn’t in the public eye in the same way that something like the Second World War or the Roman Empire is," they said.

Unfortunately, some individuals aim to “exploit past events to push a political point in the present day" by weaponizing history in a sense. 

Let us know in the comments which of these memes you vibed with the most, dear Pandas. Were there any that made you want to learn more about a time period or historical event? Feel free to share your insights and findings.

In the meantime, for some more r/HIstoryMemes goodness, take a peek at Bored Panda's earlier posts here and here.