Welcome to r/askhistorians! The idea here is for normal people to ask professional historians questions about the past! Anybody can help to answer a questions, but the panel is a way to make it more obvious that you are a worthy source of information!

You are qualified for a historian tag if you possess a deep understanding of a specific subject area, or a wide amount of understanding (more than what you would acquire by walking through museums) of a larger subject area. This knowledge could be acquired through a college degree, professional involvement, or simple deep self-study. Please tell us what your qualifications are.

4/8/12 EDIT: There seems to be some confusion on what qualifies you for a tag, so let me make this nice and clear. The first necessity is an extensive knowledge of your subject matter. You should have read a plethora of scholarly articles and/or source materials regarding your subject, and be able to reference them if needed. The second necessity is the ability to make a well-explained comment. You should be able to write a post that would make sense to someone with little-to-no background in your subject area. Lastly, you need to remain calm. Repeatedly being antagonistic or provoking retaliation is grounds to lose a tag. Disapproval of another's comment ought to be warranted well and calmly presented.

PLEASE REALIZE: By receiving a tag you are setting yourself to a higher standard. If you are not sure about something you are answering PLEASE make that blatantly obvious. Whenever possible, cite sources. If you are caught making an obvious lie, your tag will be removed. (We will be fair about this, people make mistakes). Before you sign up, please read the entirety of the sidebar in order to grasp some of the guidelines you will be expected to follow.

We won't be asking you to provide verification for your tag, unless you start making obvious, reported mistakes. Just be honest.

When asking to join the panel, please do the following things:

PLEASE make your comment TOP-TIERED. This way I will get the red envelope.

Choose a broad area of expertise. If you can't cover the whole subject, that's fine, just pick what your knowledge fits into. The broad areas can be see in the Legend in the sidebar.

Pick a timeframe (Iron Age, Middle Ages, Modern, etc.)

Pick a narrowed area of expertise. (Pacific Theater of WWII, westward expansion, the crusades, etc.)

We will use steps 2-4 in deciding what to make your tag about. You can see past commenters below for some tag examples. A tag for a broader area might just read something like [Pacific Theater WWII], but a more specific tag might read [Japanese Involvement @ Battle of Midway].

I hope this becomes a very productive and educative community!