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08 · Rules and risks

Things that can get a post removed, an account banned from a subreddit, or suspended sitewide. Checked 2026-10-12. Sources: reference/reddit-facts.md.

Reddit-wide rules (Reddit Rules)

  • Rule 2: take part authentically in communities you care about; don't spam; don't manipulate votes or content (no vote rings, no friends asked to upvote, no extra accounts).
  • Rule 5: don't mislead about who you are. Say you're the developer when you talk about your product.

What Reddit calls spam (Reddit Help: Spam)

Promotion is not spam by itself. Spam is repeated, unsolicited or automated posting: - the same post or link in many subreddits for exposure, - mass or unsolicited private messages and chat requests, - bots or AI tools posting and commenting for you, - masked links, link shorteners, redirects.

Each subreddit adds its own rules

  • Promotion banned, allowed only in a weekly thread, or only on a given day.
  • A ratio rule: many subreddits allow at most 1 in 10 of your posts and comments there to promote your own work (keeping spam out of a community).
  • Account age and karma minimums, required flair, title tags, price and platform in the post, "no AI-written posts".
  • Read the rules page and pinned posts before every first post; get them with the rules script or the subreddit wiki.

Who can do what

  • Moderators remove posts and ban you from their subreddit (temporary or permanent). Their AutoModerator can remove or hide your posts silently.
  • Reddit admins handle sitewide actions: warnings, temporary and permanent account suspensions. Reddit replaced sitewide shadowbans with suspensions in 2015 (TechCrunch).

Is my account hidden?

  1. Post or comment, then open it in a private window (logged out) after 10 minutes.
  2. Not there? Check whether the subreddit removed it (a removal note, or it shows only to you). Re-read the rules; message the moderators politely if you can't see why.
  3. Nothing you post shows anywhere, or you got a suspension message: stop posting and use Reddit's official appeal form linked in the message. Don't make a new account to get around it: that's ban evasion.

Safe habits

  • Comments before posts; karma in a subreddit before you post there.
  • One post per subreddit per month at most; different text everywhere.
  • Max 1 in 10 of your comments in a subreddit mention your product.
  • No DMs to people who didn't ask. No giveaways that ask for upvotes.
  • Write in your own words; no auto-posting tools.
  • Don't delete and repost a post that did badly.

Reddit Ads are a separate, paid route (third-party guides put the self-serve minimum around $5 a day; check the number in Reddit Ads Manager, see reference). Try ads only after organic answers and posts show which subreddits and messages bring trials (strategy-spend-and-timing).