Where do things like,"What if the confederacy won the US civil war?"go? Entertainment, Mental calisthenics, knowledge of history/sociology/politics a plus to enter into such a thread. I'd put it in History, but that seems limited to historical realism. Free Thoughts, but it turns into pure randomness there. It's almost like a game, following the paths of world events from the What If point to current, and would be best with some structure, but freeform will work.
history? you think so? I don't want to post a what if, and have it get sent to free thoughts, or cessed.
There are already threads in the history section discussing things like should the US have supported the czar during the Russian revolution, if you could kill one historical figure, who would it be, etc. So if you're talking about something like that, no prob. Now if you want to post an alternative history story or discuss ideas for such stories, I'd say the scifi section would be appropriate.
It's possible to discuss alternatives in History, mainly because if someone was doing a PhD or just debating as a hobbiest, they won't just analyse history for all it's outcomes but perhaps suggest alternative methods for any of it's failures. Obviously history can't be undone so we are stuck with an outcome, so there is no way to test these alternatives other than of course through debate or reasoning. Of course if the history you imply is built like a house of cards (i.e. Would the US have existed if there had been no Christianity?) and you start talking about the 3rd rebellion of the Ziabot's elite guard (A fall out from this alternative play off) then you'll either find it posted in Scifi or Pseudoscience, or further still Cesspool should it degrade further.
I'll test a deep alt-history thread, let me know if it's out of line. I find them entertaining, others may as well. It doesn't fit in sci-fi, alt-history deserves a place as a secondary history forum, I think, though that depends on others posts in the thread. I think it will get bogged down in miniscule details, but we shall see.
