How to Launch on Reddit Without Getting Removed or Banned

Why can one page not give you the rules?

Because there are two layers and the second is different everywhere. Reddit has site-wide rules, and then every community, called a subreddit, writes its own on top of them, enforces them through volunteer moderators and can change them at any time. One community welcomes a weekly thread where people show what they built. Another removes anything that links to your own site. A third allows promotion only from accounts with a long history of other contributions.

We tried to read Reddit’s own rules pages with an automated check on 13 November 2026 and were blocked, as Reddit blocks many scripted requests, so we state only the general shape here and not a quotation. Open each community’s rules yourself before you post. Look in its sidebar or “about” section, any pinned post and its wiki, and read recent removed or top posts to see what the moderators accept in practice.

Where should you post?

Choose by the kind of community, then read its rules. Three kinds are worth separating, because they want different things from you.

The subreddits for sharing your project page lists categories of communities, and the guide to subreddits for startup ideas goes through where idea feedback tends to land. Check every rule again yourself, since both pages age.

What does a post that stays up look like?

It reads like a person telling a story to people who share the problem. Write it fresh for each community, in this order:

1. A title that names the problem or the thing, not an exclamation. “I built a tool that turns a messy invoice folder into a spreadsheet” is clearer than a tagline.
2. One line saying you made it. Say so near the top. A maker who hides that is found out in the first reply, and the thread turns.
3. The reason you built it, in two or three sentences of your own experience.
4. What it does and what it does not, including the rough edges. Readers trust a post that names its limits.
5. One question for readers, such as which step feels wrong or what they use today. A question gets answers; an announcement gets a scroll past.
6. The link, if the rules allow it, and only once. If links are not allowed in posts, put it in a reply or leave it in your profile, as the rules say.

The Reddit launch post templates give editable wording for each of the three kinds in the table. Keep every version different, in sentence and structure, not only in the first line.

When should you post, and how often?

Once per community per product, and when you can reply for several hours. For the hour, look at each community’s own top posts from the past few weeks and note when the active ones went up. That tells you when its members are around, which beats a general rule. Space the posts across days, not minutes, so that you can give each thread real attention and so that the same product does not appear in many places at once.

Do not arrive cold. Many communities limit new accounts, and moderators check history to see whether you ever do anything but promote. Spend a couple of weeks commenting usefully in the communities you plan to use. It also teaches you what they like. Plan this into your launch day schedule, and note that a post can sit unseen for hours and then pick up, so keep your replies going into the next day.

How do you reply, and what do you do if a post is removed?

Reply to everyone, in the order they arrive, and give each person the answer to their actual question. When someone criticises the idea, ask what they use instead; their answer is free research. When someone is rude, do not trade insults, because other readers see the thread and judge you by it. If you are asked a question you cannot answer, say so.

If a moderator removes your post, read the reason, then send one polite message to the moderators asking what would make a version acceptable, such as a different flair, a self-promotion thread or a rewrite without a link. Do not repost it in the same community, and do not open a second account. Evading removal is the quickest way to a ban, and the community remembers.

What gets you ignored, removed or banned?

• An account that only promotes. If every post and comment points to your product, moderators and readers see it at once.
• The same text in many communities. It reads as spam to each one and is often against their rules.
• Asking for votes, trading votes or having friends vote. Reddit’s site rules, as widely quoted, treat vote manipulation as content manipulation. Our check could not read the page, so confirm the wording yourself.
• Direct messages to strangers who commented. Unsolicited promotional messages are a fast route to reports.
• Hiding that you are the maker, or writing as if you were a happy customer.
• Ignoring a community’s format rules, such as required flair, a weekly thread for projects or a ban on links.

If you would rather start somewhere with fewer rules to learn, you can launch your product free on this board with no account and no queue, then share what you learn in the communities that fit. The answer on getting upvotes without spam covers the voting question for every site, and the Show HN versus Reddit comparison helps choose between the two. For ideas other builders are looking for, see the ideas board.