AlternateHistory.com is a
web forum dedicated to the discussion of
alternate history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
. The forum was founded in September 2000 by Ian Montgomerie, a Canadian immigrant residing in New York, as a split-off from a
Usenet newsgroup
A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinct ...
. It is currently the largest English-language forum dedicated to the study and discussion of alternate history, with around 10,000 active members and over 400,000 discussion threads.
Description and impact
AlternateHistory.com is centered around discussion of how history may have unfolded differently with only small changes made to the past, a phenomenon described as the
butterfly effect. The forum is divided into Administration, Discussion, and Off-topic sections, and also contains a wiki. Its users, along with those at other alternate history discussion boards, have developed a lexicon unique to the discussion of alternate history. It is also known for hosting a community of map-makers who contribute maps for timelines and for works of fiction, such as the alternate history world of ''
The Handmaid's Tale
''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which h ...
''. The site has also been used as a resource by newspapers like the ''New York Times'' to describe the concept of alternate history to their audiences. Posts on AlternateHistory.com made by a Wikipedia editor who had controversially deleted information critical of
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
politician
Adrian Dix
Adrian Dix (born April 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician serving as the current Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vancouver-Kingsway in British Columbia. In addition to serving as the current Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) ...
also became a minor political issue.
In 2020 Alternatehistory.com received some attention when a doctored image of a
''Washington Times'' headline declaring Al Gore winner of the 2000 presidential election was taken from the site and retweeted by Trump campaign official Tim Murtaugh to give an example of the media making an incorrect call of a presidential election. Murtaugh received pushback from ''The Washington Times'', which informed Murtaugh that it had never published a headline like that.
See also
*
List of Internet forums
References
External links
* {{Official website, www.alternatehistory.com
AlternateHistory.com Wiki
Internet properties established in 2000
Internet forums
Alternate history websites